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ADDRESS OF THE WHIG CONVENTION 



THE NOMINATION OF ELECTORS, 



THE FEOFlrE ©F VIIE€JIMIA. 






'fC 



10 



ADDRESS 

OF THE WHIG CONVENTION FOR THE NOMINATION OF ELECTORS, TO 
THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA. 



Fellow-Citizens — In conformity with the usage of all parties inVirginla, since 
the passage of the law requiring the people to vote for Electors of President and 
Vice President of the United States by general ticket, we have assembled at the 
Capitol of the State, for the purpose of suggesting to you the names of persons 
proper to be placed upon the said ticket as Ek^ctors, and respectfully to comn)end 
them, as we now do, to your suffrages. Having selected men of fair and upright 
character, of competent ability to perform properly the service, who are known 
to us all as men of sound republican princijdes, the best* commendation which' we 
can make of them, will be to submit to your cahi) and deliberate consideration, 
some of the facts and reasons which induce us to desire, and earnestly to recom- 
Riend to the people of Virginia, as we now do, the election of Electors who are 
opposed to the re-election of Martin Van Buren. 

This duty we propose to perform, candidly, and temperately, though freely ; 
and we ask of you a calm and unprejudiced hearing. , 

Citizens as we all are of the same country, and more especially of this honored 
and ancient Commonwealth, the ends and objects of the people, for the most part, 
we cannot but believe to be the same ; for the great body of the j^eople of all 
parties we believe to be equally patriotic and virtuous, equally devoted to their 
country and to liberty. The great difference between us is the result, therefore, of 
the diflferent views taken by diftVrent persons of the means proper to attain the 
desired ends, and this difierence in respect to the njeans, we believe to be caused 
chiefly by the arts and misrepresentations of heated partisans and unprincipled 
demagogues. 

Addressing ourselve,*:, as we do, to the people of Virginia, without distinction of 
party, upon matters of deep" import to all; appealing, as we do, to all tlie sons of 
Virginia for aid to the common cause, we hope to show that, while we are cordial 
supporters of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler for the offices of 
President and Vice President of the United States, we enter into their support, 
not with the temper of partisans, but in the spirit of freemen, sustaining a con- 
stitutional Republic ; and we hope to be able to correct many of the misrepre- 
sentations of the demagogue. 

The practice of the country for many years, and unfortunately the very frame 
and structure of our Federal Government, acting upon the known and almost uni- 
versal traits of man, have made the Presidential election, at and near the periods 
of its recurrence, not only a deeply agitating, but all-absorbing topic, casting, for 
the time, all others into the shade, and portending already the most disastrous ef- 
fects to the political principles and morals of the country. 

By the constitution of the United States, the power of the President is too 
great, as many of the sternest and most sagacious patriots of the Revolution pro- 
claimed, when it was first submitted to their consideration. The patronage of the 
office then, practically trivial, but capable of expansion to a dangerous and anti- 
republican extent, in any hands, and now proven to be almost illimitable in the 
hands of a wily and unscrupulous partisan, was one of the largest sources of ap- 
prehension, and was denounced by many of those whom Virginia, as well as others 
of the Slates, trusted in those days of difficulty and danger, but of republican sim- 



plicity ; but, as far as we know, the wildest conception of the most apprehensive, 
never pictured, even to itself, the monstrous and overshadowing power wliich the 
President now exercises, and with which he presses down and prostrates the en- 
ergies of the country. 

In the early days of tiie Republic, when the men who quailed not for their 
country, in the face of legions sent by a tyrant to subdue it, yet trembled for its 
safety as they contemplated the power with which it must contend at home, and 
thought they saw the enemy of its liberty lurking within the robes of our "prince- 
ly President," the President of the United States was the President of the nation. 
Now, he is tlie President of a party — the leader of a great faction, who considers 
the patronage of the Government as the pay of his followers, and the oflices, 
honors, and emoluments of the nation, as the spoil of the successful band. Can 
it be wondered at, then, that the election of President is not only an agitating, but 
an all-engrossing topic? Is it possible for any patriot to contemplate the fact, and 
the causes which have made it, without the deepest regret for that which is, and 
the most painful apprehensions for the future? 

Fellow-citizens, we desire to arrest this torrent, which threatens to sweep away 
all the land-marks of our Government. We would curb and chain the monster 
that now controls too much our destinies, and, in the end, will destroy our liberty. 
We would limit power, and, if possible, purify it. But these things can be done 
only by the People — and to the People, therefore, we appeal. 

One of the first and most important steps to be taken to accomplish the object, 
we are satisfied, is to limit practically, if not by an amendment to the constitution, 
the power and service of the President to one term. Make him the President 
of the nation, by depriving him of a party — compel him to be honest, by withdraw- 
ing the temptation to be vicious — force him to administer the Government as the 
honored agent of a free people, and not as a guilty partisan, by depriving him of 
the hopes and consolation of a re-election. Leave him, if he abuse his trust, to 
the scorn and curse-s of his countrymen, to torture his declining years; and let his 
hope be, that, by a faithful, just, and mild administration of the laws, he shall 
merit, and receive as certainly as he merits, the highest reward of the patriot — the 
applause of an intelligent, free, and grateful people. 

The habitual electioneerer, when without power, ceases to be the independent 
statesman, and eventually is corrupted ; but when the President of the United 
States becomes the chief electioneerer in the country, the business of the states- 
man is at an end, and vice and corruption must prevail. The office, which should 
be conferred upon him who is most competent, and who would defend his country 
and her institutions against the President, is bestowed upon the satellite, who re- 
flects only the lustre of his major orb, or the servile suitor, who deems the highest 
duty of a patriot is to follow in the footsteps of his master. Fidelity to the Presi- 
dent, and not to the People, becomes the test of fitness for the office created by the 
people; and if the oflicer of the President dares become a patriot, and thinks 
it right to serve the people and protect their interests, thanks to the power of the 
people, and not the mercy of his " princely President," if he be not expelled, de- 
nounced, and degraded. 

The officers of the country should be the servants of the People, not the Presi- 
dent. The interests of the people can never be properly served or guarded 
otherwise. If power will not permit us to make the officer independent of the 
President, let him be protected by removing from the President the inducement 
to corrupt him. This will be the case when the President knows that he cannot 
be re-elected; and the hope of the officer to retain his place must depend upon 
his fidelity to his trust, and his ability in the discharge of it. 

The first great and important ground, fellow-citizens, upon which we ask you 
to unite with us m the 'support of General Harrison and John Tyler is, that they 
stand pledged, as deeply as men can be — so deeply that universal scorn must at- 



tend the violation of liie pledge — not to be candidates for a re-election — to serve 
hut a single term. The constitution authorizes the re-election of the President 
of the United States without limitation. That man who never loved but only 
tolerated power, that he might do good with it, saw the error of the provision, and 
the dangers concealed in it; and he who almost gave us our liberty, gave us prac- 
tically a constitution to preserve it, by renouncing the power which was danger- 
ous to it, and retiring voluntarily to private life. Hallowed by the name and ex- 
ample of Washington, the maxim has been preserved as one of our fundamental 
laws, and the precedent stands the proudest monument to the fame of him whose 
proudest title was, " the Father of his Country." 

The safety of the Republic demands another ennobling sacrifice; and happy 
%ve are, fellow-citizens, to be able to draw upon those times in which the sacri- 
fice of every personal interest to tl>e service of the country was considered a 
triumph, for one who is willing, as his past life proves he is able, to make the 
sacrifice. One who received his first commission to battle in his country's ranks 
against a ruthless foe, from the hands of Washington himself; who was trained 
and nurtured in that school in which patriotism was the first great lesson. A ven- 
erable patriot, distinguished alike as a soldier and citizen in the service of his 
country ; who, by the last act of his public life, is ready to prove that the maxims 
of Washington and Jefferson have sunk deeply into his heart, and that with his 
years and honors, his love of liberty has grown and increased. 

Coming from the times of the Revolution, commended to you by the confidence 
of Washington and Jefferson, and a long and perilous life devoted to th#service 
of his country. General Harrison is the proper man to set a new example to 
Ills countrymen ; to subdue the purposes of ambition to the welfare of his coun- 
try ; and in the hands, and by the aid of the people, to put a new limit to power. 
We invite you, then, fellow-citizens, to unite witli us in the support of this vener- 
able and virtuous citizen, and to limit the Presidential poioer to one term. 

To show that General Harrison will, by his example, do this, we submit to you 
the following letter written by him in the year 1838 : 

He says : — " Among the principles proper to be adopted by any Executive sincerely desirous to 
restore the administration to its original simplicity and purity, I deem the following to be of 
prominent importance : 

" 1. To confine his services to a single term. 

"2. To disclaim all right of control over the public treasure, with the exception of such part 
of it as may be appropriated by law to carry on the pubUc services, and that to be applied precisely 
as the law may direct, and drawn from the Treasury agreeably to the long established forms of 
that Department. 

" 3. That he should never attempt to influence the elections, either by the people or the State 
Legislatures, nor suffer the Federal officers under his control to take any other part in them thaa 
by giving their own votes when they possess the right of voting. 

"4. That in the exercise of the veto power, he should limit his rejection of bills to — 1st. 
Such as are, in his opinion, unconstitutional. 2d. Such as tend to encroach on the rights of the 
States or individuals. 3d. Such as, involving deep interests, may, in his opinion, require more 
mature deliberation or reference to the will of the people, to be ascertained at the succeeding 
elections. 

"5. That he should never suffer the influence of his office to be used for purposes of a purely 
party character. 

" 6. That in removal from office of those who hold appointments during the pleasure of the 
Executive, the cause of such removal should be stated, if requested, to the Senate, at the time the 
nomination of a successor is made. 

" And last, but not least in importance, 

*' 7. That he should not suffer the Executive Department of the Government to become the 
source of legislation ; but leave the whole business of making laws for the Union to the department 
to which the constitution has exclusively assigned it, until they have assumed that perfected 
shape, where and when'alone the opinions of the Executive may be heard. 

"The question may perhaps be asked of me, what security T have in my power to offer, if the 
majority of the American people should select me for their Chief Magistrate, that I would adopt 
ihe principles which I have herein laid down as those upon which my Administration would be 
conducted. I could only answer by referring to my conduct, and the disposition manifested ia 



ihe discharge of the duties of several important offices wliich have heretofore been conferred upon 
me. If power placed in my hands has ever, on a single occasion, been used for any purpose 
other than that for which it was given, or retained longer than was necessary to accomplish the' 
objects designated by those from whom the trust was received, I will acknowledge that either 
will constitute a sutHcient reason for discrediting any promise I may make, under the circum- 
stances in which I am now placed." 

We ask you carefully to consider the sentiments above expressed by General 
Harrison, and say if tliey are not patriotic and wise — if they are not republican — 
eminently republican — and evincive of the temper and spirit which should char- 
acterize the first officer of a Governmeut like ours. They are sentiments, which, 
while they evince a determination to enforce the constitutional powers of the Presi- 
dent, manifest, in the true spirit, an unwillingness to extend those powers, and a 
deternnnalion to limit them in practice ; not to prostitute the power and patronage- 
of the Government to party purposes; and, above all, to preserve pure and free 
from the corrupting inlluences of power, the Elective franchise. In these senti- 
ments there is every thing to commend, every thing to hope for. The man- 
who entertaining them is elected for one term only, will have no motive to re- 
nounce or betray them. Is there a genuine Republican who condemns them 1 

Contrast them with the principles and practices of Mr. Van Buren. He is in 
favor of re-electing the President, and is a candidate for re-election. He defends 
the riglit of Federal office-holders to interfere in elections ; and his friends in the 
Senate and elsewhere denounce any attempt to prevent it. 

He prostitutes the influence of his office to party purposes, and retains men in 
office uqton parly grounds, who are not only incompetent, but vicious and faithless^ 

He claims and exercises the power to remove officers at will, and none escape 
who oppose him. He retains now the most dangerous control over the public 
treasure, and is the advocate and supporter of a system which will give to the Ex- 
ecutive almost absolute control over it in future ; and, instead of suggesting simply 
such laws as Congress may and should pass, he seeks to control the legislation 
of Congress by the promulgation and enforcement of favorite doctrines, and the 
most arrogant and unwarrantable interference with the rights and privileges of the 
States. But, above all, has Mr. Van Buren any where, or in any manner, evinced 
the disposition to restore " the Administration to its original simplicity and purity," 
which General Harrison declares to be, in his opinion, a duty 1 On the contrary, 
has not every power of the Federal Government been practically increased and 
extended under Mr. Van Buren's administration? Has there not been the most 
lavish and wasteful expenditure of public money ? and so far from any purity in 
the Administration, has not the country been disgraced by more frauds upon, and 
robbery of, the public Treasury, than ever occurred before? 

Well and truly has it been said, by a distinguished citizen, late a supporter o^ 
Mr .Van Buren, that 

" The soul is sick 
" With every day's report of wrong and fraud, 
" With which the land is filled." 

That General Harrison will restore purity to the Administration, his past life 
furnishes an ample guarantee. Commencing his public life, as we have said, un- 
der the immediate auspices of Washington, he has past through many most impor- 
tant stations: at various times confronting the foes of his country and leading the 
armies of the nation to victory and triumph : at others, filling the most important 
civil offices — governing, with admirable wisdom and moderation, as well as integ- 
rity, one of the most extended territories of tl;e nation — then representing a sover- 
eign State in the Senate of the United States — and then the nation at a foreign 
court — he has returned poor and guiltless of all peculation, to liis own fireside,, 
and, with the simplicity of a Republican, fills the humble, but useful and highly re- 
spectable office of clerk of his county ; — so humble and unostentatious in his life, 
fellow-citizens, that he has been derided by the pimps and parasites of power, be- 



cause his habitation was said to be humble, and his drink simple and cheap. They 
who clothe in fine clothes, and feed on luxuries bought by salaries which the peo- 
ple pay, may well deride thus the Republican who maintains himself in honest 
simplicity. 

Fellow-citizens, we commend General Harrison to you as a republican in prin- 
ciple and practice ; and in further proof of our assertion, we submit to you the 
subjoined letter written by General Harrison seventeen years ago, breathing the 
spirit of an old fashioned republican, and showing that his opinions are not made 
for the occasion, but that his sentiments have been uniform and always republi- 
can, viz : 

To the Editor of the Inquisitor. 

CiTfciNJTATr, September 16, 1822. 
Sin : In your last paper you recommend to the candidates at the ensuing election, to publish 
their political creeds, that the electors may have a fair opportunity of choosing those whose sen- 
timents best accord with their own. I have ever believed that every elector has a right to make 
this call upon those who offer their services to the people ; and that the candidates are bound to 
answer it. I might, it is true, avail myself of the kind of exception which you make in favor of 
those who have had an opportunity of showing their political opinions by their conduct. But 
as I have no reason to dread the most minute investigation of my opinions, and that my fel- 
low-citizens may be enabled to compare my actions with my professions, I ofl'er you the follow- 
ing outline of my political creed, which you may publish if you think it worthy of a place in 
your paper. This measure is the more necessary at this time, as some of my new friends have very 
kindly, in various handbills and other anonymous publications, undertaken to make one for me, 
which (if I have a correct knowledge of what I myself believe) is not a very exact likeness of 
that which I profess. I deem myself a republican of what is commonly called the old J'efferso- 
nian school, and believe in the correctness of that interpretation of the constitution which has 
been given by the writings of that enlightened statesman, who vsas at the head of the party and 
others belonging to it, particularly the celebrated resolutions of the Virginia Legislature, during 
the Presidency of Mr. Adams. 

I deny, therefore, to the General Government the exercise of any power but what is expressly 
given to it by the Constitution, or what is essentially necessary to carry the powers expressly 
given into effect. 

I believe that the charter given to the Bank of the United States was unconstitutional — it being 
not one of those measures necessary to carry any .of the expressly granted powers into effect : and, 
whilst my votes in Congress will show that I will take any constitutional means to revoke the 
charter, my votes in the State Legislature will equally show that I am opposed to those which 
are unconstitutional or violent, and which will bring us in collision with the General Government. 
I believe in the tendency of a large public debt to sap the foundations of the Constitution, by 
creating a moneyed aristocracy, whose views and interests must be in direct hostility to those of 
the mass of the people. 

I deem it the duty, therefore, of the Representative of the people to endeavor to extinguish it as 
soon as possible, by making every retrenchment in the expenditures of the Government that a 
proper performance of the public business will allow. 

I believe in the right of the people to instruct their Representative when elected ; and if he has 
sufficient evidence that the instructions which may be given him come from a majority of his con- 
stituents, that he is bound to obey them, unless he considers that by doing it he would violate 
the Constitution, in which case I think it would be his duty to resign and give them an opportu- 
nity of electing another Representative whose opinion would accord with their own. 

I believe that the existence of slavery in our country is the greatest evil that we at present He 
under ; and I believe it to be the duty of non-slave-holding States to offer to their sister States 
every inducement, and alFord them every facility, to get rid of this curse. But / am equally 
convinced that, upon constitutional grounds, as V)ell as those of expediency and propriety, all the 
measures for the accomplishment of the important object of emancipation, must be begun and 
supported by the States holding the slaves, the Constitution having given no power to interfere 
in this domestic concern, without the consent of those most interested ; and every step which we 
may take without their concurrence will assuredly rivet the chains which lue wish to break. 

I believe that upon the preservation of the union of the States depends the existence of our civil 
and religious liberties; and that the cement which binds it together is not a parcel of words writ- 
ten upon paper or parchment, but the brotherly love and regard which the citizens of the several 
States possess for each other. Destroy this, and the beautiful fabric which was reared and em- 
bellished by our ancestors, crumbles into ruins. From its, disjointed parts no temple of liberty 
will again be reared. Discord and wars will succeed to peace and harmony — barbarism will- 
again overspread the land ; or, what is scarcely better, some kindly tyrant will promulgate the de- 



8 

crees of his will from the seat where a Washington and a Jefferson dispensed the blessings of a 
free and equal Government. ■ > 

I believe it, therefore, to be the duty of a Representative to conciliate, by every possible means, 
the members of our great political family, and always to bear in mind that, as the Union was ef- 
fected only by a spirit of mutual concession and forbearance, so only can it be preserved. 

WM. H. HARRISON. 

General Harrison is furthermore commended to your support and your suffrages, 
fellow-citizens, by the fact that he is opposed to the present despotic and ruinous 
financial policy of Mr. Van Buren — we mean the sub-Treasury. Our limits will 
not permit us to enlarge upon the evils of tliis measure in detail ; but we ask you 
to look around you, and see the fruits — the dead-sea fruits — the ashes of industry 
and enterprise, which have sprung from the principles of which this sub-Treasury 
is the horrid consummation. '■^ Perish credit, perish commerce^'' — " Those icho 
trade on boj-rotced capital deserve to break,'''' were the savage war-cry, when the 
leaders of the anti-credit, anti-commerce party of Mr. Van Buren, "let loose the 
dogs" of party war upon the credit, commerce, and industry of the country. And 
they hav'e perished. The young, the hardy, and the enterprising — the men whose 
capital were an honest heart, a clear head, a determined spirit of industry, and the 
confidence of friends, have been struck down. To be worthy of confidence, was 
to be vicious — to receive it, was to merit destruction; and men in high places — 
RepuhUcans ! cried out " perish !" Fellow-citizens, under that fell edict, who 
sank, and must sink? The men who, born without fortunes, have to make them, 
while they only survive who are already rich — and tiie heir of hereditary wealth 
becomes the pet of republican equality. A diminished commerce, disbanded 
laborers, low prices for produce and labor, with a deficient revenue, are the fruits 
of this system. If the people were in diificulty, they were able to extricate them- 
selves, and would have done so, but the Government and its party have determined 
they should not, because to enable it to acquire the power it sought, it was neces- 
sary first to distract, and then distress and humble the people ; and now it madly 
and relentlessly presses upon them this financial scheme, so injurious and despotic 
m its nature, that it exists not to the extent proposed here in any other country 
having the semblance even of a free Government. We regret, fellow-citizens, 
that we cannot here discuss fully the merits — we should speak more properly, to 
say the enormities — of this scheme. But this every man can understand, viz: the 
value of property in the general is what it will sell for; and property can be 
bought only with money — it may be bartered for something else. If the currency 
is specie only, it must be diminished from what it now is, one hundred fold at 
least ; and as money becomes scarce, property becomes cheap, for the want of 
money to purchase it. The price of property falls, therefore, with the reduction 
of the circulating medium, while every man's debt, who is in debt, remains the 
same. The man who owns Uirge plantations, with slaves and other stocks upon 
them, houses, bank stocks, &c., finds his wealth curtailed nominally, only because 
he has no need to sell. His relative distance from the poor man is greater than it 
was. But the man who owns property of the value of one or two thousand dol- 
lars only, and who owes five hundred or a thousand dollars, finds himself ruined, 
because his debt remains undiminished, and must be paid dollar for dollar, while 
his little property is sold for half its value, and bought by his wealthier neighbor. 
So the man who labors for hire, must hire himself for half the former price, while 
he who has the means, must get the benefit of it; and thus, at every turn of this 
republican financial sciieme, are the rich, in fact, made richer, and the poor poorer. 
This measure is bad enough even under this view of it ; but we have not yet de- 
veloped its whole character. A part of this scheme to obtain the unqualified con- 
trol over 'he currency, as well as the revenue of the country, not the least obnoxious 
in principle, and in the end likely to be productive of the most serious, if not 
fatal evils, is the proposition to give the Government the power to issue " bills of 
credit," called Treasury drafts, to such extent as the Government shall find neces- 



sary to carry on its operations. Tiiese Treasury drafts will be paid out to all 
persons to whom tlie Government is indebted, and will bear a premium or fall be- 
low par, according to the State of the Treasury. If the specie of the country 
becomes " banked" in the Treasury, so that the world is assured the drafts upon 
it may be promptly met, the knowledge of its convertibility will prevent its return 
immediately, and it will bear a premium, because of the greater facility of remit- 
tance which it affords than specie; and thus the Government — the Treasury — 
will become the great bank of deposite and circulation, hoarding tlie specie, and 
distributing its paper. What, then, will become of the people and their currency 1 
The Government will have the " hard money," and the people the paper. If, 
on the other hand, ihe specie be not hoarded, and the Treasury deficient, then 
all history, and especially our own colonial experience teaches us, that the Trea- 
sury paper will fall below par, and in a state of war will become what the old 
*' continental money" was, imposing a certain and heavy loss upon every man 
who receives it. Are you willing, fellow-citizens, to bring upon the country such 
a state of things ? Will you, in these days of " hard-money" clamor, consent 
to bestow all the " hard money upon the Government and its ofl'icers, while you 
take the paper — the "rags'?" as the hard-money gentlemen call it. And this 
jou will do, if you adopt Mr. Van Buren's financial scheme — a scheme unneces- 
cesarily and madly pressed upon you, with no other view, we believe, than to give 
power to the Government and its party — a scheine for the most extensive, and 
worst paper currency ever suggested in this country by any other man or party. 
Fellow-citizens, we ask you to bear in mind by whom, and under what circum- 
stances this scheme is pressed upon you. When Mr. Van Buren came into power, 
the country was prosperous, the revenue abundant, and the currency comparatively 
sound — compared we mean with what it had been and is. Destruction to credit 
was proclaimed in this young and growing country, wliere credit is life and capital ; 
the " hard-money" cry was raised, the currency with which \\\e. people were con- 
tent, was condemned and assailed by the Government^ and this sub-Treasury 
scheme proposed. What have been the consequences'? Distress and scarcity 
of money throughout the land — and a consequent decline of prices, and yet an 
unequal and almost worthless currency — and the authors of this mischief, profess- 
ing friends of hard-money, call upon you, instead of hard-money, to receive Gov- 
ernment paper. 

To place yourselves and your property absolutely under the control of the Gov- 
ernment, by giving it the command of the currency, while they boast that the 
Government and its office-holders will be independent of you ; they will draw 
their stipends in hard money, unatflicted by any of the causes which may afflict 
the people, and indifferent to your suffering. Fellow-citizens, we ask you if this 
will be Republican Government ? Will it not convert your Government into a 
brazen monster, who will look with indifference, if not with exultation, upon the 
sufferings of the people, mocking their distress ? Where will be that sympathy 
between the Government and the governed — between the power and the people, 
which should characterize and is the essence of Republican Government? What 
ought you to think of professing Democrats who answer their professions by such 
practices'? In the mad pursuit of power, under the the dazzling influence of 
" hard money," they have utterly forgotten the people and their interests, for 
every feature of the scheme proposed tends to strengthen the Government, and 
weaken and oppress the people. 

Obnoxious and despotic as this scheme is, yet, fellow-citizens, it was insufficient 
to answer the purposes of the Government, and did not place the people suf- 
ficiently in its power. The State banking institutions might yet hold out longer, 
and break in some degree, although they could not defeat the force of the scheme, 
and the new and before-unheard of proposition was made by Mr. Van Buren, that 
Congress should, by a bankrupt law, enable the Federal Government by its agents 



10 

to close the doors of the State banks, and take possession of their funds and cffects^ 
whenever they should violate that law. Contemplate the spectacle which the 
execution cf ihat law would present. Your State swarming with Federal harpies, 
called Commissioners of Bankrupts — your State banks closed and surrendered to 
them — your bank-note currency destroyed, while the specie is hoarded by the 
Government, and your people harassed by lawsuits, judgments and executions 
against their persons and propert}'. Was there ever so sudden a transition frona 
liberty and independence to slavery and misery, and yet the forms of free Gov- 
ernment prevailing 1 To the peculiar friends of State rights we might well appeal, 
and ask how they can sustain one so inimical to the very idea of State rights as 
he must be, who thus proposed by Federal agents to take possession of and ex- 
tinguish all the banking institutions of the States which might come within his 
reach, and claimed to hoM a power over them which must make them merft 
Federal dependants. Who is it that would not commit the lamb to the keeping 
of the wolf, who would commit State rights and State institutions to the care of 
such a friend 1 

Fellow-citizens, let your Government bring you to the condition we have de- 
scribed — and to that condition INIr. Van Buren has sought, and yet seeks, to bring 
you — and not the form even of free Government will be left you. We caution 
you to beware the attack made upon your liberty, while the forms of the Republic 
are preserved. It is the insidious approach of Death, which seizes upon the vitals 
of the victim while he yet appears to be in health, and stops the current at his 
heart before he even suspects that he is in danger. The traitor, who strikes open- 
ly at the liberty of his country, or the revolutionary fanatic, who seeks to abolish 
the forms in the act of destroying that liberty, warns the people of his ends, and 
at once the friends and foes of liberty are arrayed against each other openl}' — 
and the danger once seen, the enemy is subdued, if the people are virtuous. But 
against the foe who works by sapping, it is difficult to guard. Appealing to the 
forms of the Government, which he fears to assail, as proof that he would not 
harm the Republic — under professions of regard for the people and devotion to 
the Constitution, which he designs to overthrow, he proceeds in his work unsus- 
pected, until the whole fabric is undermined, and the power of the people is turn- 
ed against themselves before they are aware of it. AVretchcd will be your condi- 
tion under this system in a time of peace — let war come, and it will be insupporta- 
ble except by slaves. Money, it is said, is the sinew of war. Place all your cash 
in the hands of the Government, and let it issue bills of credit, and the army will 
become at once the object oi ^'' hard-money'''' bounty — to supply whose wants, and 
suppress whose clamors, it will be distributed to them, while the people will be 
glad even to get "rag" money. When Ctesar turned the arms of Rome against 
the State, and invaded ihe Capital, his first act was to seize the Treasury — be- 
cause without men he could not conquer Rome, and without money he could not 
keep his men. 

Fellow-citizens, we invoke you to arrest this ruinous measure, and restore the 
happy and healthful days of the Republic. This can be done efiectualiy only by 
rejecting Mr. Van Buren : for it is vain to expect to change the measures of the 
Government if you retain in office, and clothe with power and patronage, the men 
who have originated and advocate these measures. A sad experience has de- 
monstrated in relation to this very measure, that the hope is idle, and that the 
power of the Government is even now too strong for the people. The remedy, 
and only efficient remedy, is to remove the men who propose such measures. 
The People exercise their power over the Government by removing from office 
those who abused the trust reposed in them, and, as all must admit, it is the only 
corrective which the people can apply to the Executive branch of (he Govern- 
ment. A different course puts the Executive above the People, and makes him 
supreme ; and is, in truth, the adoption of the odious " sink or swim" maxim, by 



11 

which, men professing to be Republicans, swear fealty to a man, and pledge 
themselves to serve and follow power, take what course it may. The maxim is 
odious, the practice servile and disgusting, and we are satisfied that it can never 
be adopted by the People of Virginia. 

Apart from its servility, its want of all independence and dignity, it is truth 
commends to the people, in a spirit of manworship, or in the fear of power, to sur- 
render their only control over their own agent and become the dupes of his will, in- 
stead of making him, as he should be, the instrument of their will. Let not those 
who oppose Mr, Van Buien's measures, and who will not meanly swear to sink or 
swim by him, delude themselves with the idea that they punish him by refusing to 
vote for him, although they will not vote for his adversary. If right for them to 
pursue such a course, so it would be for all other opponents of Mr. Van Buren'& 
measures, and if all his opponents became neutrals, none but his supporters would 
be left to vote, and they would of course elect him. It is, in our humble judg- 
ments, therefore, the duty of every man to go to the polls and efficiently rebuke 
bad measures by rejecting the authors of them. 

We are aware, fellow-cilizens, that numerous attempts hiue been made, are 
now being made, and will be repeated, some of them by men who know they are 
perpetrating injustice, and in reality endeavoring to practise a fraud by misrepre- 
sentation, for the purpose of injuring General Harrison in your estimation. W& 
propose briefly to examine some of the most prominent of these topics of detrac- 
tion, and we ask your patience and attention. We ask this not for ourselves- 
merely, and not for General Harrison — we ask it for your sakes, and for the sake- 
of our common country : for whether mistaken or not, we are solemnly convinced, 
that upon the removal from office of Mr. Van Buren and the men immediately 
around him, depends, essentially, if not, in the end, absolutely, the preservation 
of our free institutions, and our once equal and Republican Governnjent. 

It is objected to General Harrison, by venerable demagogues, as well as by 
their younger and more innocent dupes, that he is not an orthodox politician in 
his interpretation of the Federal Constitution ; and the reveille is sung to the par- 
ty who support the President, to the old chorus of Anti-Bank, Anti-Tariff, Anti- 
Internal Improvement. Most of those who raise this cry know that the questions 
suggested by these cabalistic terms, are not now before the American people, and 
if they were, that Mr. Van Buren is obnoxious to the strongest objections to which 
they can give rise ; yet, with an effrontery nowhere else to be met with, they first 
insist that these are the true issues, and swear that all who will not support Mr. 
Van Buren are in favor of the bank, tarifl^, and int(;rnal improvements, and there- 
fore Federalists — while Mr. Van Buren, who favors them all, is a most immacu- 
late Republican ! ! ! How stands Mr. Van Buren upon the tariflT, internal im- 
provement, and the bank? 

I. As to the Taritf. — Mr. Van Buren voted for the most extravagant and op- 
pressive tarhf ever passed, and justified his support of it by reference to the num- 
ber of sheep he owned ; and since he left the Senate, in his letter to a committee 
of gentlemen at the Shocco Springs, he expressly admits the constitutional power 
of Congress to pass high tariff laws for the protection of manufactures. 

II. As to Internal Improvement. — Mr. Van Buren voted for the strongest meas- 
ure upon that subject ever passed by Congress, in the construction of the famous 
Cumberland Road, and the erection of toll-gates upon it; and, as President, he 
has never vetoed any bill for internal improvement. He has made, it is true, an 
excuse for his votes on this subject, that, although a Senator, sworn to support 
the Constitution, he had not examined it when he violated it. To those who may- 
regard this as proof of his fitness for the Presidency, we have nothing to offer. 

III. As to the Bank, or a Bank. — Mr. Van Buren swore " uncompron)ising 
hostility to the bank" after it was dead under General Jackson's blows, and he 
piously repeats the oath at least once a year, lest perhaps he should forget he- 
swore it. 



12 

But look to liis practices. He is the author and founder of that financial scheme, 
which is in itself a Government bank, and must in the end plainly assume that 
shape. He professes to concur in all things with General Jackson, who distinctly 
said, that Congress had power to incorporate a bank; and even in Virginia — in 
this anti-bank atmosphere of our own — the most distinauished supporters of Mr. 
Van Buren are avowed bank men, and the party which supports him, supports 
them. You have seen the whole Administration party, in the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia, wiih two exceptions, unite upon and support Mr. McDowell as Governor, 
with tlie knowledge that, in the year 1834, in the month of January, Mr. McDow- 
ell said, in a speech in the House of Delegates of Virginia, that, while he was op- 
posed to the Bank of the United States, he admitted the power of Congress to es- 
tablish a bank, upon the ground that it was " necessary and proper," as t!ie " fiscal 
agent" of the Government, " in the execution of its duties." In other words, 
Mr. McDowell is the open advocate of a Government bank founded upon the 
revenue of the country; and when once established, however begun, it requires no 
extraordinary optics to foresee that it will be clothed with all the attributes of a 
bank, having in the beginning some of the most important, and that all other banks 
must sink before it. 

It is but fair to say, therefore, that those who supported Mr. McDowell, ap- 
prove his opinions as to a bank ; as, to say otherwise, would be to affirm, that 
this great test was no test with the Administration party, and the profession of 
hostility to other men for favoring the bank was not sincere, or gentlemen were 
careless of the opinions of those they support, upon high constitutional questions. 

Another distinguished member of Mr. Van Buren's parly in Virginia, filling now 
the important and responsible office of President of the Court of Appeals, and 
lately Iield up as a candidate of the party which is opposed to the bank, for the 
office of Senator of the United States ; a gentleman by his talents and accom- 
plishments justly entitled to be, as he was, if he is not now, one of the leaders of 
his party, has, in a letter written in January, 1839, but just published, avowed his 
adherence to his old opinions in favor of the constitutional power of Congress to 
make internal improvements and create a bank, and that "with the great body of 
the Republican party he voted for the bank," believing it to be " necessary and 
proper" — " within the meaning of the Constitution." Yet this distinguished gen- 
tleman remains still an honored supporter of JMr. Van Buren, and a member of 
the Republican party; like Mr. McDowell, a " most worthy and approved" mem- 
ber: yet these gentlemen, between them, maintain the bank power, in all the 
phases of a bank and the bank, and thus doubly surrender the constitution, ac- 
cording to the party creed; but all who do not concur with them in the support of 
Mr. Van Buren, are doomed and destroying Federalists, and the great tests of fed- 
eralism, are the bank and internal improvement!!! We think you will say with 
us, fellow-citizens, that there is inconsistency or want of sincerity in these pro- 
fessions of the professed Anti-bank party, and their practice of supporting bank 
men — an inconsistency from which they will find it as difficult to extricate them- 
selves as tlicy will to extricate the learned judge from his dilemma who thinks the 
bank constitutional because it is both "necessary and proper," " within the mean- 
ing of the constitution," and yet thinks "that the creation of another bank would 
be inexpedient and pernicious;" to make which true, a bank may be "necessary 
and proper" and " inexpedient and pernicious" at the same time. 

But if opinions upon the tariff, internal improvements, and the bank or a bank, 
be the true tests of republicanism, then how stands General Harrison in compari- 
son with JMr. Van Buren? We answer, that upon the tarifi'and internal improve- 
ments he cannot be worse than Mr. Van Buren, as we have shown you ; and as 
to the bank, his unqualified declaration that it was unconstitutional is before you ; 
and there is no reason to believe that he is in favor of a bank in any form, for he 
is assuredly opposed to a Government bank. As far as we know or believe, fel- 



13 

lo.. citizens, General Harrison lias but one opinion about the bank, and that is 
against it, and we feel that we hazard nothing in saying that he would not consider 
any bank constitutional whicii, in his opinion would, if established, be both "in- 
expedient and pernicious." 

With these evidences of the profession and practices of the leaders of Mr. 
Van Buren's party before you, we ask you, fellow-citizens, if you can regard them 
as sincere when they raise the cry of hank and anti-bank, and that they really 
believe that there is all the mischief in a bank which they profess; and that bank 
and anti-bank aie the true issues before you? We are satisfied that you will say 
with us that this is mere party management or trickery, not to be relied on. But 
then the question immediately presents itself, if sound issues could be made, why 
are false one preferred 1 If General Harrison could be assailed truly, and Mr. 
Van Buren defended, why are simulation and detraction resorted to? There can 
be but one answer : falsehood only serves when the truth fails. To prove these 
charges false, however, effects nothing ; for if all other arts fail, and every other 
slander is repelled — if General Harrison cannot be proven to be either a bank 
man or a Federalist, then he is an abolitionist, say his enemies — the Northern 
men with Southern principles, and the Soutliern men with Northern principles — 
of whom we fe.'ir the latter is the most numerous class. This is the subject upon 
which the South is most sensitive, and most likely to be misled ; and if all the 
other traps fail, in this one the good-tempered gulls will surely be caught. Fel- 
low-citizens, this charge is of the gravest and most momentous character ; and, 
without hesitation, we say, if General Harrison is an abolitionist, not only cast 
him out, but stone him ; but see that you take not another abolitionist in his place. 
Before ^ou decide, however, come with us, we pray you, and calmly and candidly 
consider the evidence upon which the charge rests, and the characters, touching 
this subject, of the witnesses against General Harrison. 

Are they men " above fear, and without reproach," who come with " clean 
feet" and a clear conscience, to testily — Southern men with Southern feelings, not 
Southern men with Northern feelings, really desirous to suppress abolition, and 
candidly looking to that as the end? Are they trading politicians, with whom 
hostility to abolition is a means only of attaining other ends? Or are they abo- 
litionists in disguise, who have betrayed their own opinions, and sunk their con- 
sciences, to serve power and its party, and fight only for the spoil of the van- 
quished, which belongs to the victor? If such be the witnesses, fellow-citizens, 
we know that you are too generous, too just, to condemn any man upon their tes- 
timony. But we fear not to meet the accusation, and place General Harrison 
upon his trial, let who will be the witnesses — even though they be men who, 
standing in the midst of the South, have declared that the success of the favorite 
policy of Mr. Van Buren is of more importance than all other questions, abolition 
included, or that slavery " is the greatest evil that can scourge our land ;'''' that 
it must be removed, and " it is the part of no honest man to deny ity Neverthe- 
less, fellow-citizens, while wc say, that if General Harrison can be convicted, 
even by such testimonj, of being an abolitionist, " cast him out," yet we respect- 
fully admonish you, when he may be cast out, not to throw yourselves into the 
arms of such men as we have described, and commit the interests of those op- 
posed to abolition to the keeping of men who have shown a willingness to betray 
even their own opinions, to obtain power or serve a party, and who have proven 
they would be abolitionists if abolition were popular. We say, confidently, how- 
ever, that General Harrison is no abolitionist ; and, without fear, we proceed to 
examine the evidence upon that point. 

The evidence relied upon by the opponents of General Harrison, consists of a 
portion of the letter quoted already in this address, and another public declaration 
which will be found annexed to it. By these declarations, General Harrison has 
said that he regards slavery as an evil, and would be glad to see the country re- 



14 

Jieved of it, " witii the con ent of the slaveholing States ;" " and that he is con- 
vinced, upon constitutional grounds, as well as those of expediency and propriety, 
that all the measures for the accomplishment of the object must be begun and be 
supported by the States holding slaves — the constitution having given no power 
to interfere with this domestic concern without the consent of those most interest- 
ed." The propositions contained in this declaration are — 

I. That General Harrison is not the advocate of slavery. 

II. That he is " convinced" that all measures to remove it, must originate with, 
and be supported by, the slaveholders. 

III. That Congress has no constitutional power to take any measures upon the 
subject, except upon the request, and therefore with the concurrence of the slave- 
holding States. 

Take this declaration by itself, fellow-citizens, without the aid of an explana- 
tory remark even, and we ask 3'ou if you think there is a candid man in America 
who would say that the sentiments above quoted are those of an abolitionist? . An 
abolitionist deny that Congress has any power except such as the slaveholding 
States confer, if they choose to confer any, and that no measures for abolition can 
be taken but at their request and with their concurrence 1 Grant these proposi- 
tions, and is not all talk, even of abolition, at an end, unless the slaveholding 
States, or their representatives, indulge in it? Will slavery, or can it, be abol- 
ished under General Harrison's views, unless the slaveholding States ask that it 
shall be 1 And if tlicT/ seek the abolition of slavery, would you have the Presi- 
dent of the United States declare it should not be? Would that not be absolute 
despotism? Is there a man residing in any uon-s!aveholding State, whose senti- 
ments are known, who concedes more to the slaveholding States than General 
Harrison? Does Mr. Van Buren ? Do the supporters of Mr. Van Burcn even 
in Virginia ? We answer no, and we will prove the answer true. But it is said 
that General Harrison has declared, as he has, his willingness to see the surplus 
revenue of the States appropriated, with the consent of the slaveholding States, 
to the removal of the slaves, and this makes him an abolitionist I Here is the 
horrible treason against the constitution. If he be a traitor to either, strike him 
down. Let neither his long services, the many perils he has encountered with 
your foes, nor even his gray hairs, preserve him ; but strike boldly — strike for 
the South and the Constitution — and do not, we pray you, fail in your duty, be- 
cause the task is difficult, and excuse your recreancy, as some of the assailants of 
General Harrison now excuse theirs upon a former occasion, by saying you were 
" frightened from your propriety." Let us examine the declaration of General 
Harrison — The surplus revenue may be applied to the removal of the slaves, with 
the consent of the slaveholding Stales. We would remark, in the first place, that 
in this declaration you have an explanation of the kind of" measures" contempla- 
ted by Geijeral Harrison in his first declaration above quoted. What is the 
*' measure" proposed ? To appropriate the surplus revenue, with the consent of 
the slaveholding States, to the removal of the slaves. We do not concur in this 
suggestion : but we beg you to consider the position of those who clamor most 
against it, in reference to every proposition contained in it ; and before you con- 
demn General Harrison under this clamor for the benefit of Mr. Van Buren, as- 
certain whether Mr. Van Buren, and even Ins Virginia friends, for the most part, 
liave not committed themselves to all that General Harrison suggested. General 
Harrison's " measure," if a suggestion may be so called, involves two proposi- 
tions: first, the distribution of the surplus revenue; and, secondly, that, in dis- 
tributing it, it may be applied, with the consent of the slaveholding States, to the 
removal of slavery. As to the first proposition, we suppose there will be no disa- 
fireement; the riglit to distribute the surplus revenue is admitted by all — from 
General Jackson down to those who follow in the footsteps of his illustrious pre- 
decessor; a7id the revenue has been distributed. General Jackson approved and 
signed the bill for its distribution. 



15 

To carry out the other proposition, it would be necessary that the slaveholding 
States should first ask that the share distributed to each one of them sliould be 
applied to the removal of slavery, by the purchase and removal of the slaves; and 
if they choose so to apply their share of the revenue, who will deny their right to 
do it^? If ihe slaveholding States did not confine their action to their own share 
of the surplus revenue, then the only other mode by which they could act would 
be for them to ask the non-slaveholding States to apply tli(!ir share of the surplus 
revenue to the removal of slavery. Dues any one believe that the non-slaveholding 
States would do it? but if they were asked by the slaveholding States to do it, and 
were to do it, would the slaveholding States have any right to complain 1 Who 
among them, under such circumstances, would complain, because, in getting rid of 
their slaves, they receive payment for them out of the money of others generously 
thus applied 1 Surely they would not, or should not complain, who advocated the 
abolition of slavery in Virginia without con)pensation, or upon condition that the 
slaveholders should pay themselves for their slaves, and tax the non-slaveholders t© 
aid them. The complaint against General Harrison, it is manifest, should come from 
the non-slaveholding and not the slaveholding States — as the non-slaveholding 
States, by the terms of the proposition, could move in the matter only at the re- 
quest of the slaveholding States, and then might be required to pay the costs of 
the movement. As we have said, we do r-ot concur in the suggestion ; but to show 
you that the opinion is not peculiar to General Harrison, does not involve a clear 
or palpable breach of the Constitution, if any, and, at least, is not to be taken as 
evidence that he who holds it is a Federalist, we beg leave to r(;feryou to the an- 
nexed letter from Mr. Jefferson to Jared Sparks, to be found in the 4ih volume of 
Mr. .Jefferson's correspondence, from page 388 to 391, as proof that he entertained 
a very similar opinion — one, indeed, involving the whole constitutional ground said 
to be covered by General Harrison's opinion, and of which the following is aa 
extract : 

" And from what fund are these expenses to be furnished 1 Why not from that of the lands 
which have been ceded by the very States now needing this relief 7 And ceded on no consider- 
ation, for the most part, but that of the general good of ^he whole. These cessions already con- 
stitute one- fourth of the States of the Union. It may be said that these lands have been sold — 
are now the property of the citizens composing those States — and the money long ago received 
and expended. But an equivalent of lands in the territories since acquired, may be appropriated 
to that object, or so much, at least, as may be sufficient; and the object, although more impor- 
tant to the slave States, is highly so to the others also, if they were serious in their arguments on 
the Missouri question. The slave States, too, if more interested, would also contribiite more by 
their gratuitou.s liberation ; thus taking on themselves alone the first and heaviest item of expense. 

"I am aware that this subject involves some constitutional scruples. But a liberal construc- 
tion, justified by the object, may go far, and an amendment of the constitution the whole length 
necessary. The .separation of infants from their mothers, 'too, would produce some scruples of 
humanity. But this would be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel." 

Which of the modern and self-created Democrats will dare to call Thomas Jef- 
ferson a Federalist 1 

Fellow-citizens, we invite you to compare Mr. Van Buren and General Harri- 
son, and their supporters, and we are satisfied you will decide that if either be li- 
able to the charge of being abolitionists, it is not either General Harrison or his 
friends. 

General Harrison is a citizen of Ohio — a non-slave-holding State ; but he is a 
Virginian, the son of a revolutionary patriot of Virginia, who, by signing tiie Dec- 
laration of Independence, pledged his life, his honor, and his fortune, to accom- 
plish our- freedom. And Oliio, peopled largely from Virginia, has declared her 
opposition to any interference with the r'ghl of the slave holder; and General Har- 
rison declares that Congress and the non-slave-holding Slates have no power over 
slavery under the Constitution, and ought not to exercise it if they had. 

Mr. Van Buren is a citizen and a native of New York — a non-slave-holding 
State also — from the North. He denies, it is true, the power of Congres to abol- 



16 

isli slavery in t'le States, but I.e admits the power to aboli.sli it in tlie Territories 
and in the District of Columbia, (see his letter, dated March 6, 1836, to J. B. 
Mallory, of Brunswirk.) He was one of the promoters and agitators of the Mis- 
souri )'estriction, and in the Legislature of New York, voted for the following res- 
olution of instruction to Rufus King: ^'■Resolved, That our Senators be instructed, 
and our Representatives in Congress requested, to oppose the admission as a State 
into tlie Union, of any Territory not comprised as aforesaid, [ihat is, in the old 
States,] without making tlie-prohibition of slavery therein an indispensable con- 
dition of admission ;" and in the Convention of New York, he voted to place the 
free negro upon a footing with the white man at the polls ; and the Legislature of 
New York have but just now declared, by an overwhelming majority of both 
branches of the Legislature, that Congress is bound to receive petitions for the 
abolition of slavery, and that New York is opposed to the resolution recently 
adopted by the House of Representatives declaring it will not receive them. 

What thought JMr. Jefierson of the Missouri restrictionists 1 Hear his denunci- 
ation of them and then- restriction, in his own language. In a letter to General 
Lafayette, to be found in the 4th volume of his memoirs, page 384, Mr. Jefier- 
son savs: *' On the eclipse oi Federalism with us, although not its extinction, its 
leaders got up the Missouri question, under the false front of lessening the meas- 
ure of slavery, hut with a real view of jrroducing a geographical division of par- 
ties, which might insure them the next PRESIDENT." And in another letter 
he says, " Of the Missouri question," — " This momentous question, like a fire bell 
in the night, awakened and fdled me with terror. 1 considered it at once as the 
knell of the Union.'''' One of these ^^Federal leaders,''^ thus denounced by Mr. 
Jefferson as sounding the " fire bell in the night;" this " knell of the Union," for 
unholy and ambitious purposes, was Martin Van Biiren. His opponent, upon 
that question, the friend of the South and the Union, was William Henry Harrison. 

General Harrison, on the other hand, opposed and voted against the Missouri 
restriction; and, voting against it, he denied the power of Congress then, as he 
does now, to impose it, and never has thought the free negro equal to the white 
man. Fellow-citizens, we ask you in candor to say, if either of these men be your 
enemy upon the question of slavery, is it General Harrison ? If either be danger- 
ous to you, is it General Harrison? We might here drop the comparison, and 
commit the subject to the judgment of an intelligent and impartial people; but 
there is other testimony, and we consider it a duty, not less to the country than to 
General Harrison, to submit it to your consideration. In a public address, deliv- 
ered at Vincennes, in the State of Indiana, in the year 1835, General Harrison 
freely declared his sentiments in respect to abolition and the abolitionists ; and we 
give them to you in his own words, viz : 

"I ha-re now, fellow -citizens, a few more worJs to say on another subject, and which is, iii 
my opinion, of more importance than any other that is now in the course of discussion in any 
part of the Union. I allude to the societies which have been formed, and the movements of cer- 
tain individuals in some of the States in relation to a portion of the population in others. The 
conduct of these persons is the more dangerous, because their object is masked under the garb 
of disinterestedness and benevolence, and their course vindicated by arguments and propositions 
which, in the abstract, no one can deny. But, however fascinating may be the dress with which 
their schemes arc presented to their fellow-citizens, with what purity of intention they may have 
been formed and sustained, they will be found to carry in their tcain mischief to the whole Union, 
and horrors to a large portion of it, which it is probable some of the projectors and many of 
their supporters have never thought of — the latter, the first in the series of evils that are to spring 
from their source, are such as you have read of, to have been perpetrated on the fair plains of 
Italy and Gaul, by the Scythian hordes of Attila and Alaric ; and such as most of you apprehend- ■ 
od upon that memorable night when the tomahawk and war-clubs of the followers of Tecumseh 
were rattling in your suburbs. I regard not the disavowals of any such intention upon the part 
of the authors of these schemes, since, upon the examination of the pulilications which have 
been made, they will be found to contain the very fact, and very argument which would have 
been used, if such would have been their object. I am certain that there is not in this assem- 
bly one of these deluded men, and that there arc few within the bounds of the Slate. If there 



17 

are any, I would earnestly entreat them to forbear, to pause in their career, and deliberately con- 
sider the consequence of their conduct to the whole Union, and to those for whose benefit they 
profess to act. That the latter will be the victims of the weak, injudicious, presumptuous, and 
unconstitutional efforts to serve them, a thorough examination of the subject must convince them. 
The struggle (and struggle there must be) may commence with horrors such as I have described, 
but it will end with more firmly riveting the chains, or in the utter extirpation of those whose 
cause they advocate. 

«'Am I wrong, fellow-citizens, in applying the terms weak, presumptuous, and unconstitu- 
tional, to the measures of the emancipators 1 A slight examination will, I think, show that I 
am not. In the vindication of the objects of a convention, which was lately held in one of the 
towns in Ohio, which I saw in a newspaper, it was said that nothing more was intended than to 
produce a state of public feeling which would lead to an amendment of the Constitution, author- 
izing the abolitition of slavery in the United States. Now, can an amendment of the Constitu- 
tion be eftected without the consent of the youthern States 1 What, then, is the proposition to 
be submitted to them 1 It is this: 'The present provisions of the Constitution secure to you 
the right (a right which you held before it was made, which you have never given up) to man- 
age your domestic concerns in your own way, but as we are convinced that you do not manage 
them properly, we want you to put in the hands of the General Government, in the councils of 
which we have the majority, the control over these matters, the effect of which will be virtually 
to transfer the power from yours into our hands.' 

"Again, in some of the States, and in sections of others, the black population far exceeds 
that of the white. Some of the emancipators propose an immediate abolition. What is the 
proposition, then, as it regards these States and parts of States, but the alternatives of amalgama- 
tion with the blacks, or an exchange of situations with them 1 Is there any man of cununon sense 
who does not believe that the emancipated blacks, being a majoritj', will not insist upon a full 
participation of political rights with the whites; and, when possessed of these, they will not 
contend for a full share of social rights alsol What but the extremity of weakness and folly, 
could induce any one to think that such propositions as those could be listened to by a people so 
intelligent as the Southern States? Further: The emancipators generally declare, that it is 
their intention to effect their object (although their acts contradict the assertion) by no other 
means jthan by convincing the slaveholders that the immediate emancipation of the slaves is 
called for both by moral obligation and sound policy. 

"An unlledgcd youth, at the moment of his leaving (indeed in many instances before he has 
left it) his Theological Seminary, undertakes to give lectures upon morals to the countrymen of 
Wythe, Tucker, Pendleton, and Lowndes, and lessons of political wisdom to States whose atlairs 
have so recently been directed by Jefferson and Madison, Macon and Crawford. Is it possible 
that instances of greater vanity and presumption could be exhibited 1 But th.e course pursued 
by the emancipators is unconstitutional. I do not say that there are any words in the Constitu- 
tion, vyhich forbid the discussions they are engaged in — I know that there are not. And there 
is even an article which secures to the citizens the right to express and publish their opinions 
without restriction. But in the construction of the Constitution it is always necessary to refer 
to the circumstances under which it was framed, and to ascertain its meaning by a comparison 
of its provisions with each other, and with the previous situation of the several States who were 
parties to it. In a portion of these slavery was recognised, and they took care to have the right 
secured to them, to follow and reclaim such of them as were fugitives to other States. The 
laws of Congress, passed under this power, have provided punishment to any who shall oppose 
or interrupt the exercise of this right. Nor can any one believe, that the instrument which con- 
tains a provision of this kind, which authorizes a master to pursue his slave into another State, 
take him back, and provides a punishment for any citizen or citizens of that State who should 
oppose him, should at the same time authorize the latter to assemble together, to pass resolu- 
tions and to adopt addresses, not only to encourage the slaves to leave their masters, but to cut 
their throats before they do so ] 

"I insist, that if the citizens of the non-slaveholding States can avail themselves of the 
article of the Constitution which prohibits the restriction of speech, or the press to publish any 
thing injurious to the rights of the slaveholJing States, that they can go to the extreme that I have 
mentioned, and effect any thing further which writing or speaking could effect. But, fellow- 
citizens, those are not the principles of the ConsHtution. Such a construction would defeat one 
of the great objects of its formation, which was that of securing the peace and harmony of the 
States which were parties to it. 

"The liberty of speech and of the press were given as the most effectual means to preserve to 
each and every citizen their own rights, and to the States the rights which appertained to them 
at the time of their adoption. It could never have been expected that it would be used by 
the citizens of one portion of the States, for the purpose of depriving those of another portion of 
the rights which they had reserved at the adoption of the Constitution, and in the exercise of 
which none but themselves have any concern or interest. If slavery is an evil, the evil is with 
them ; if there is guilt in it, the guilt is theirs, not ours ; since neither the States where it docs 
2 



IS 

not exist, nor the Government of the United States can, without usurpation of power, and 
the violation of a solemn compact, do any thing to remove it without the consent of those who 
arc immediately interested. 

" But they will neither ask for aid, nor consent to be aided, whilst the illegal, persecuting, and 
dangerous movements are in progress, of which I complain — the interest of all concerned re- 
quires that these should be stopped immediately. This can only be done by the force of public 
opinion, and that cannot too soon be brought into operation. Every movement which is made by 
the abolitionists in the non-slaveholding States, is viewed by our Southern brethren as an attack 
upon their rights, and which, if persisted in, must in the end eradicate those feelings of attach- 
ment and atVection between the citizens of all the States, which was produced by a conmunity of 
interests and dangers in the war of the Revolution, which was the foundation of our happy 
union, and by a continuance of which it can alone be preserved. I entreat you, then, to frown 
upon measures which are to produce results so much to be deprecated. The opinion which I 
have now given, I have omitted no opportunity for the last two years to lay before tlie people of 
my own State. 1 have taken the liberty to express them here, knowing that even if they should 
unfortunately not accord with yours, they would be kindly received." 

Entertaining, and boldly and freely proclaiming such sentiments as these, Gen- 
eral Harrison is yet denounced by the partisans of Mr. Van Buren, as an abo- 
litionist; and men, professing to be candid and sincere, urge you lo support Mr. 
Van Buren and oppose General Harrison upon that ground. Yes, strange to re- 
late, men who pronounced slavery " a dark cloud" and " a curse," and who 
claimed the right to remove it, even without compensation, now shamelessly de- 
nounce General Harrison as an abolitionist, while they support Mr. Van Buren. 
When did IMr. Van Buren ever utter sentiments so congenial to the feelings of the 
South, and inimical to the abolitionist, as those just quoted from General Harri- 
son"? We answer, never — and defy the proof. If he has never uttered them 
yet, who has professed every sentiment which could serve his ambition, do you 
think he will do it after he is re-elected, with the Legislature of his own State 
condemning such opinions? 

We might here dismiss this charge against General Harrison as utterly unfound- 
ed and false, and confidently expect your judgment in his favor; and we should 
do so, if the subject were one of ordinary interest; but we know that it is not — 
that it is one of more than ordinary interest, and the ear of the whole South is erect 
when it is touched. The traducers of General Harrison know this too, and there- 
fore they have seized upon it to arouse your sensibilities and your indignation, ia 
the hope, by their influence, to mislead your judgment. We beg you, therefore, 
to bear with us for but a short time, while we show you, /row tke re cord, who and 
what ihey are wlio assail General Harrison as an abolitionist, and how far their 
charges should be regarded, and their testimony entitled to weiglit. 

The leader in Virginia in this work of detraction and abuse, is the Richmond 
Enquirer; and, like most others of (he presses and politicians which support Mr- 
Van Buren, it is not content to misrepresent and abuse General Harrison, but it 
recklessly seeks to involve in the charge of" abolition" all who favor his election. 
This journal has occupied a prominent position in Virginia for many years, and its 
statements and assertions circulate extensively among ker people, and ail acknowl- 
edge the influence which the public press exercises in a reading community; and 
this press, reflecting, as it did, the opinions of the true Republican party of Vir- 
ginia, while it was headed by Jefferson, IMadison, Spencer Roane, and others, has 
been received by the people of Virginia as the Republican organ, and its state- 
ments confided in by a large portion of the people. Therefore, although we feel 
little respect for the political opinions of that journal, as we cannojt entertain much 
respect for ih.e opinions of any journal which, for several years, has shown itself 
ready to sink principle that it may swim with power, we will yet be excused for 
adverting to its course and opinions. Our respect for you, fellow-citizens, leads 
us to this, because we know that many of you obtain your political information 
through that journal ; and it is due to you, therefore, when we seek to guard you 
against its statements, that we shotild give you our reasons for so doing. You all 
know, too, that not the least important facility in arriving at truth or detecting 



19 

error, is a correct knowledge of the character of the witnesses upon whose testi- 
mony the decision is to be made. By turning to the files of the Enquirer for the 
months of January and February of the year 1832, you will find tliat that paper 
w:as the open and almost frantic advocate of the abolition of slavery in Virginia — 
so much so, that in various parts of the State, and especially on tlie south side of 
James river, in Mecklenburg and other counties, it was denounced in public as- 
semblies of the people ; and on the 7th of January of that year, in its phrensy it 
exclaimed, " Are we forever to suffer the greatest evil which can scourge our 
land, not only to remain, but to increase in its dimensions'?" Yet the Richmond 
Enquirer now leads the host which denounces and reviles General Harrison as an 
abolitionist, and, therefore, enemy of the South ! Upon the authority of this 
press, you are required to brand and cast out a venerable patriot, who has spent a 
long life in the service of his country, amidst dangers and difficulties of all kinds, 
while the doughty paragraphists were secured in a garret, concocting political 
squibs, or raving about " clouds" and " curses," and praying for abolilion! And, 
strange to tell, men who profess to oppose General Harrison because he is an ab- 
olitionist, believe in the Enquirer, and fight under its lend, for the Northern man 
against the Southern. During the same winter, (1832,) Mr. McDowell appeared 
upon the public stage as a distinguished advocate of abolition, differing with the 
Enquirer in this only — that he denied the right of the slave owner (o any compen- 
sation for his property, while the Enquirer was willing that he should pay himself, 
and tax the non-slaveholder to help him. Mr. INIcDov.'ell proclaimed that " there 
is no sacredness in this property" which forbids the Government to abolish it, and 
claimed for the Government a right over the property superior to that of the 
owner, and made an elaborate speech in support of his opinions ; and during the 
present winter, the supporters of Mr. Van Buren in the General Assembly, with 
the exception of the two gentlemen from Mecklenburg, have supported Mr. 
McDowell, and co-operated with the Enquirer in the effort to make him Governor 
of Virginia. 

Fellow-citizens, with the evidence gf these things before you, do you believe that 
the opposition to General Harrison, and support of Mr. Van Buren, is founded in a 
real hostility to abolition, or belief that General Harrison is, and Mr. Van Buren 
is not, an abolitionist? We know that it will be said that the Van Buren aboli- 
tionists are abolitionists by State means, and not by Congress, and that there is 
p,iuch difference between the two. Grant it ; because Congress has less power 
even than the State, if there can be less than none, to abolish slavery ; but if the 
horrors of abolition are to come upon iis, what matters it to us whether they are 
brougiit on by State or Federal means'? If they arc to come in any way, how- 
ever, is not General Harrison's suetjestion less violent and more liberal than that 
of the Enquirer or Mr. McDowell '? For while each requires the assent of the 
State in the first instance, and the Enquirer and Mr. McDowell deny compensa- 
tion to the owner. General Harrison, in his suggestion, proposed that after tiie 
assent of the State was obtained, the owners of the slaves should be paid out of 
the surplus revenue of the United States, if the slavebolding Slates desired it. 
We are aware that while General Harrison is so fiercely pursued and recklessly 
misrepresented upon this subject, his pursuers seek to avoid the responsibility 
of their own opinions by pretending that they were led away by the horrors and 
excitement^f the scenes of Southampton. The excuse sinks the act beneath con- 
tempt. The coward who, in the moment of battle, deserts his post, may always. 
say that he was carried away by horrors and excitement; that, in the excitement 
of the moment, he ran, but is a hero nevertheless ! 

In conclusion, fellovz-citlzens, we beg you to remark that the men such as we 
have described, support the Northern man, who is surrounded by abolitionists, 
and, for his benefit, denounce and traduce the Southern and Western man — a 
Virginian — distinguished both in peace and war, and the son of one ot that im- 
mortal band who pledged and perilled every thing to make Virginia free. 



20 

"We have already protracted this address, fellow- citi/^ens, further than we in- 
tended ; but we liope to find our justification with you in the magnitude of the 
interest at stake, and the importance of the topics to be discussed. 

Full justice to ourselves, lo you, or to the cause, would require us to spread it 
over a much larger space. A volume would not suffice to lay before yon fully 
the false professions and broken promises of Mr. Van Curen and his ministers; 
their wasteful prodigality of the public money, and their false and deceptive re- 
ports to Congress, and other measures to conceal it. The blunders which have 
brought the Treasury to bankruptcy, and the revenue to almost a trifle; and tho 
disregard of the public interests and the dictates of morality, by retaining in offices, 
for party purposes, in numerous instances, convicted defaulters and spoliators of 
the public Treasury. We cannot close this address, however, fellow-citizens, 
without adverting again to a topic, in our humble judgment, of the highest import- 
ance, and demanding the gravest consideration of the people. We allude to the 
fact proverbial through the land, that Mr. Van Buren is the President, not of the 
nation, but of a party ; and that in the temper of the partisan, he has sunk the 
impartiality, dignity, and patriotism, of the American President — of that system 
of party drill which now disgraces the land, and requires slavery instead of ser- 
vice ; and of which the baneful effecis are seen in every Department, Mr. Van 
Buren is the author — habituated to, if not the author of, ibat system in New York, 
managed by a regency, in which various smaller parties throughout the State, act- 
ing like concentric circles, form one grand circle, which covers the whole, and 
make all depend upon the centre, he has long since made politics a mere trade in 
New York. Virginia was happily exempt from the horrid influence, and political 
opinions, the dictates of truth, reflection, and experience, and not the mere sugges- 
tions of party leaders, were freely formed, and freely and openly expressed — and 
men were tried b)' their principles, until Mr. Van Buren became a candidate for 
the Presidency, and unfortunately came to Virginia. Since that period, the party 
cords have been drawn closer and tightei, until now, to our shame be it said, the 
politicians who support Mr. Van Buren openly declare that the test of fitness for 
the public service is devotion to Mr. Van Buren — devotion to the President. 
Yes, fellow -citizens, men who prate of the people and republicanism — who pro- 
fess to love you, and to be free and indepei;dent, when called upon to elect men 
to serve and represent yon, require not that they shall be " honest, capable, and 
faithful to the constitution" and the people ; but they shall " sink or swim" with 
the President. Can any thing be more disgusting, more disgraceful to freemen, 
more absolutely subversive of a Republican Government? A striking example 
of the vice of this practice has been recently exhibited, and we call your attention 
emphatically to it. The Senate of the United States is the branch of Congress 
in which alone the State, as such, is represented: in that body Virginia is entitled 
to two Senators — she has but one — it was the duly of the General Assembly, at 
its present session, to elect another, and yet you have seen an election defeated, and 
Virginia left only half represented in the State branch of the Government, because 
men would not swear fealty to Mr. Van Buren. No man could be elected, how- 
ever true to Virginia, however able, and devoted to the constitution, and to your 
rights and interests. These qualifications were nothing, unless he would pledge 
himself to "sink or swim" with Mr. Van Buren. Yes, fellow-citizens, unless ho 
would promise to forget Virginia, the constitution, and his oath, when the Presi- 
dent required it, he was unworthy to represent Virginia. People of Virginia, wc 
appeal to you to say whether you will approve and sustain such doctrine and 
practice as this. In the name of our common interests, by our mutual love of 
liberty, and regard to our Republican Government, we appeal to you to restore 
Virginia to her ancient independence. 

Another and not less striking and painful instance of the subservience of party 
to the supposed interests of the President, and of the unscrupulous and relentless 
fury with which it overturns and destroys even the most sacred rights, and with 



21 

unholy hands violates the Constitution, has cccurred in Congress in the expulsion 
of the State of New Jersey from the grand council of the nation — a sovereign 
State, entitled to equal representation, and equal right in all other respects with 
]ier sister States, has exercised her constitutional privilege and performed her duty, 
by electing persons to represent her in Congress. She chose such men as she 
preferred, and according to the appointed forms of the law, under her own great 
seal she commissioned them to express her will. But the men whom she chose to 
represent //er and express her will, did not suit the President and his party m 
Congress, and in shameful disregard of every principle of duty, and of the com- 
mands of the Constitution and the rights of the State, five out of tiie six chosen, 
were expelled without a trial, and the State disfranchised, by an unprincipled 
party majority, barely sufficient to effect the sacrilegious purpose. At the com- 
mand of the power party, the rights of a sovereign Stale were abrogated, and she 
%yas expelled from Congress with contumely and contempt, and the mock-heroic, 
" chivalric," and boasting defenders of State rights, were among the most zealous 
and noisy in thus testifying their servility to power and practical disregard of State 
rights — men who were willing "to go the death" for sugar, had not a ivord to 
utter in defence of the rights of a sovereign State. 

This is the fate of the gallant little State of New Jersey at present. Let power 
grow, and with its growth become more insolent, as it will, and our ancient and 
beloved State may be the next to be thus dragged down at the feet of a party ty- 
rant, if she shall send representatives to Congress to serve her and not the Pre- 
sident. 

Strike ofl' these manacles of a cold-blooded party despot, and restore your sons 
to freedom. Expel from the Capitol the man who would subjugate them and you. 
We shall be charged, we know, with being the partisans of General Harrison, 
because we urge you to elect him and not Mr. Van Buren. Solemnly we declare 
that we are not ; as freemen we will exercise the privileges of freemen to expel 
corrupt and incompetent rulers. This can be done only by putting others in their 
places more honest and patriotic, and such we will support with zeal; but we are 
not the partisans of any man, and regard men only as the necessary instruments 
in the hands of the People to carry out their principles. 

Principles without men are useless, and good principles in the hands of bad men 
are worse than a " sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." They are the songs of 
the siren, which but serve to delude, and, like the cooling breezes of the vampire's 
wing, they lull to repose the victim for death. Your principles cannot be sustain- 
ed, therefore, fellow-citizens, without men — and they must be good men. In the 
name of our common country then, and for the sake of that country, we rally 
around Harrison and Tyler. We invite you to join us, to aid us, and by our 
united strength to rescue the country and its institutions from ruin and destruction, 
and before the world we pledge ourselves, that if our trust is betrayed and Harrison 
proves recreant, we will rally again around the temple of Liberty, and again expeL 
the traitor from its sacred halls. 

Of Mr. Tyler we have said little, because it was not necessary to say much as 
to him. John Tyler is known to the People of Virginia as one of their best tried 
and most faithful servants. Party malignity, in its most reckless mocd, has not 
charged him yet with being an abolitionist. But, in the plenitude of their power, 
the partisans of the President, who make and unmake Republicans by royal touch, 
liave pronounced him a Federalist because he is a Whig. Against that charge we 
will not vindicate one whom you have so often pronounced to be a Republican. 
If the man who has always been the advocate of Republican measures, and during 
nearly his whole life the Representative of Republican People, needs vindication 
from the charge of Federalism, we feel satisfied that it will be made triumphantly 
by the Republicans of Virginia, whom he has so long and so faithfully served, and 
to their protection we commit him, confident that in their hands he will sustain no 
wrong, and that they will say to him, " well done good and faithful servant." 



23 



APPENDIX. 

It was the intention of the committee to prepare an appendix to the address, for the purpose 
of explaining, and, by documentary evidence, refuting, many of the falsehoods which are pro- 
pagated by the ministerial presses against General Harrison, as well to place him upon other 
points, in his true position before the people ; to show not only the distinguished military ser- 
vices which he has rendered to the country, but his iiigh qualifications as a scholar and states- 
man. This purpose of the committee has been in part defeated by the inability to obtain, at this 
time, a copy, of General Harrison's Cheviot speech, which will be published hereafter, and the 
work, in other respects, has been so much better done than we could do it, by Mr. Goode, one 
of the Representatives of Ohio in the Congress of the United States, in answer to a shameless 
attack, by one of the retainers of the Government, upon the character of General Harrison, that 
the committee have determind to republish large extracts from it as a substitute for their own 
work, for the most part. 



Extracts from the speech nf Mr. Goode, of Ohio, delivered in the House of Representatives on 
the \bth day of February, 1840, in reply to Mr. Crcu-y^s attack upon Gen. Harrison. 

In advancing the stale and oft-refuted charges against the military arrangements and personal 
courage of the hero of the Thames, the gentleman from Michigan was probably not the sole 
author of his own movement. Mr. G. would not positively assert that that gentleman had acted 
in combination with others, and in the accomplishment of a deliberate plan directed against the 
well-earned fame of an American General, nor would he suggest that the movement itself was 
evidence of that terror which began to invade the counsels of the party now in power, on wit- 
nessing the throb of joy, the pulsation of enthusiasm, which the late nomination at Harrisburg 
had sent from one extremity to the other of this wide Republic. That the attack made by the 
gentleman was not original with him was very plain, from the fact that the substance of it had 
been given in (if, indeed, it had not been taking from) a paragraph in a late Baltimore paper, 
which read as follows : 

" Governor Harrison marched within sight of the Indian towns and halted. Davies, Taylor, 
and others, held a conference with the Indians, whom they found in no inconsiderable alarm at 
the imposing force before them. This fict was communicated to Governor Harrison. Never- 
theless, after some delay, during which the Indians were permitted to strengthen themselves by 
accessions from neighboring tribes, Governor Harrison was induced to encamp on QxouniX point- 
ed out to him hy the Indians, and most felicitou.sly adapted to the purpose for which thty had 
chosen it. On this spot the whole force encamped, in sight of a wily, deadly, and treacherous 
foe. They encamped without even the accustomary precaution of throwing up a common log 
breastwork, which an hour's time might have accomplished. The commander undressed and 
retired to his repose; and his entire corps, save the common sentinels, followed his example. 
What was the result of this utter neglect of nil the common precautions against attack? Pre- 
cisely what any one but General Harrison would have fiireseen. 

•' An hour before day the Indians burst upon the encampment, and so complete tvas the sur- 
prise that many of the soldiers met the tomahawk of the savage at the entrance of their tents. 
Owen and many other gallant spirits fell at the onset. All was confusion and dismay. A body 
of Indians took shelter behind some logs, and were pouring in a deadly fire. Governor Harri- 
son, %vith characteristic folly, ordered the chivalrous Davies to charge them. Major Uavies was 
on foot, and, commanding the dragoons, was armed only with pistols ; he was thus most wan- 
tonly sacrificed to the incapacity of his commanding general. Boyd and his regulars stood their 
ground with the coolness which marks the well-trained soldier, beat off the enemy imtil light, 
and saved the army from annihilation. As the day dawned the Indians retired, having shed 
much of the best blood of the West, and almost destroyed the gallant body under Governor Har- 
rison's command. 

" Governor Harrison retreated as fa.st as the condition of the wounded would permit; and 
thus commenced the Indian war which for so long a time drenched our frontier in blood ; and 
thus terminated the famed battle of Tippecanoe, which lies at the foundation of all Gen. Harri- 
son's military glory ! For want of foresiglit in precautionary measures, and want of judgment 
in action, it is without a parallel in the history of our wars ; yet for this General Hanison is 
dubbed a hero — 'the hero of Tippecanoe.^ " 



24 \ 

One of the gentleman's principal charges is a total want of prudence and caution in .ne sclec' 
lion of the ground on which his army was to encamp ; and that, when the ground was chosenj 
it was under the advice of Indians who thus trained him and his troops into the middle of a fatal 
ambuscade. I am prepared to show that this charge is utterly unfounded. After proceeding, on 
the 6th of November, into the vicinity of the Indian camp, and receiving information that the 
woods were open, and that there was no impediment to appioacliing the enemy. General Harri- 
son called a halt, and despatched two of his ollicers, Colonel Waller Taylor and Major Clarke, 
to examine the country up and down the creek until they should find a suitable place for encamp- 
ment. The letter of Colonel Taylor, under date of 22d of February, 1817, then one of his 
aid-de-camp, speaks thus : 

"The spot for encampment was selected by Colonel Clarke (who acted as Brigade Major to 
Colonel Boyd) and myself. We were directed by General Harrison to examine the country up 
and down the creek until we should find a suitable place for an encampment. In a short time 
we discovered the place on which the army encamped, and to which it was conducted by us. No 
intimation was given by the Indians of their wish that we should encamp there ; no»- could they 
possibly have known where the army would encamp until it took its position. 

"It has ever been my belief that the position we occupied was the best that could be found 
any where near us ; and I believe that nine-tenths of the oflicers were of the same opinion. We 
did not go on the Wabash above the town, but I am certain that there was no position below it 
that was eligible for an encampment. WALLER TAYLOR. 

•'Febrcakt 22, 1817." 

Major Clarke is a gentleman well known to me personally, and, to any one who does know 
him, his testimony is conclusive evidence. General Taylor, then a Colonel, is no less known in 
this city, having been one of the first Senators in Congress from the State of Indiana. If these 
gentlemen are to be believed, the Indians neither did nor could know the spot which Gen. Karri- 
son had selected for his camp. Hear Captain Siielling to the same point : 

"My situation as a platoon oflicer prevented my having any personal knowledge of the trans- 
actions above related, as far as respects the selection of the encampment of the army, \mder the 
command of General Harrison, by his staff officers ; hut having carefully persued the extract 
from McAffee's history, I have no hesitation in saying that I believe it to be substantially correct, 
and that, in my opinion, the ground on which the army encamped combined the advantages of 
wood, water, and a defensible position, in a greater degree, than any other ground in that section 
of the country. The ground on the Wabash was wholly unfit — the highland being destitute of 
water, and the interval (or bottom land as it is called) being without wood and incapable of being 
defended. J. SNELLING, Lieutenant Colonel Cth Infantry. 

" Washin'gtox, Fehriiary 28, 1817." [Moses Dawson's Life of General Harrison. 

The gentleman from Michigan said something about musty hooks, and of referring to historical 
records on the subject of General Harrison's character and achievements, and spoke of them as 
containing matter unfavorable to General Harrison's reputation. I will not blame the gentleman ; 
he no doubt had his own reasons for this, and in all proliability they were very good ones to him 
and to his party friends who seek to destroy General Harrison's reputation ; but as I am not ac- 
quainted with them, I intend to look a little into these same " musty books," and to consult the 
records of by-gone times, that we may see how they speak of men who are now treated as un- 
worthy even of decent respect. Sir, in this examination I hope to take the gentleman from 
Michigan with me, that I may have the benefit of his military light and experience. Of these, 
there can be no question, .since the gentleman himself, who must be best acquainted with them, 
considered himself as fully warranted to go into a detailed examination of the military move- 
ments of General Harrison, and on his own personal authority, and profound military skill to 
pronounce a public condemnation of them. To be sure, when I heard liim assuming this re- 
sponsibility, I could not avoid some secret thoughts about the disparity, in ago and experience, 
between the critic and the time-honored and war-worn veteran on whom he sat in judgment. 
The gentleman from Michigan might seem to one who looked no further than the outward ap- 
pearance, too much like a smooth-faced boy, to have fought many battles, or to have led many 
armies to victory, or to have had any very enlarged experience in "setting squadrons in the 
field." Yet, no doubt, one who thus undertakes to set up his own judgment and opinion 
against the current of history, the consent of contempornries, and the testimony of intelligent eye- 
witnesses, and the ablest military talent, must have ])erformed, in his own person, many great and 
warlike achievements. It is true, I have been so unfortvmate as never to have heard of anj' one of 
tlicm. There was, I know, a very celebrated campaign on the borders of Michigan and Ohio, 
some short time since, in which many a gallant knight was on the point of faUing, though none 
fell ; but I do not remember, in all the history of those illustrious movements, to have met with so 
much as the name of this very celebrated brigadier general of Michigan. He has told the House 
that he is a a:cneral — and it is well that he has told us — for if ho had not, some of us at least 
would have remained ignorant of it. Yet, distinguished as he is, and well entitled to pronounce a 
military criticism on the arrangements of great commanders, I could not, as his friend, but deeply 



25 

regret the spirit and tbc manner in which lie commenced and conducted his attack upon one 
whom the people of this whole Repuhlic have delighted to honor. Nothing could justify his 
going to the lengths he did ; and though I seldom rise in this House, and never without the most 
extreme reluctance, yet, I can tell that gentleman, when lie commences an attack like this, I, for 
one, shall not sit by and tamely hold my tongue ; and I can assure him further, that, on hearing 
of such an attempt, there are thousands and hundreds of thousands beyond the mountains who 
will not hold theirs. Corrupt as the nation has become in some things, a sense of gratitude to 
the defenders of the country is yet warmly glowing in their bosoms, and deeply impressed on their 
hearts ; and it is possible that the gentleman and his party may yet discover that attacks like 
these, though harmless as to the object of them, sometimes recoil with fearful power upon those 
who make them. Yes, sir, they will be visited and repaid with a vengeance, by an indignant 
community. Sir, did I indulge my feelings on this occasion, 1 should quote from no books, I 
should consult no musty records. No man in Ohio, no man in the West — in all the West — 
■wants a book to speak of General Harrison ; for it was well said, by a gentleman in the other end 
of this building, (Richard M. Johnson,) that "■ the history of the West is his history." But the 
gentleman has compelled me, and though it be abnost a work of supererogation, I must be per- 
mitted to refer to some historical authorities, which I shall do presently, and which may show 
how the standing of that officer may compare with that of the gentleman from Michigan. I, 
being no military man, will not undertake to say. And here let me remark, for the benefit of 
the gentleman from Michigan and his friends, that I am not quoting from a Whig historian : the 
author of this book is Moses Dawson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the leading friends of Mr. 
Van Buren, as he was before that, a warm and decided supporter of General Jackson. General 
Harrison needs not the partial testimony of friends to bolster up his reputation, but may boldly 
challenge his bitterest and most decided enemies. 

And now, I will commend to the gentleman's attention, still further the same historical au- 
thority. I'he gentleman, speaking about the number of Indians present in the battle of Tip))e- 
canoe, stated it as being only four hundred and fifty. I do not know where he found his warrant 
for that estimate, but I will give him the testimony of Moses Dawson again on that point : 

" The Indians left thirty-eight warriors dead on the field, and buried several others in the 
town, which, with those who must have died of their wounds, would make their loss, at least, 
as great as that of the Americans. The troops under the command of General Harrison, of 
every description, amounted on the day before the battle to something more than 800. The 
ordinary force that had been at the Prophet's Town, through the preceding summer, was about 
450 ; but they were joined a few days before the action by all the Kickapoos of the Prairie, and 
by many bands of the Pottawatamies from the Illinois river, and the St. Josci)h's of Lake Michi- 
gan. They estimated their number after the battle to have been six hundred ; but the traders, 
who had a good opportunity of knowing, made them at /e«£/ eight hundred, and some as many 
as one thousand. However, it is certain that no victory was ever before obtained over the 
Northern Indians where the numbers were any thing like equal. The number of Indians 
killed, too, was greater than was ever before known. It is believed that there were not ten of 
them killed at St. Clair's defeat, and still fewer at Braddock's. It is their custom always to 
avoid a close action. At Tippecanoe, they rushed up to the bayonetsof our men." — Dawson's 
Life of General Harrison, page 215. 

They mowed down the forces of St. Clair and Braddock while their own numbers were 
scarcely at all impaired. But at Tippecanoe, it has been computed, on good authority, that full 
as many Indians were killed and wounded as there were of the American forces. It is admitted 
by all that a more obstinate battle never was fought ; that Indians never left their covert and came 
on with more determined fury and a more unflinching perseverance. It is well known that, in 
general, an Indian force will not stand to receive a charge, but here they rushed upon the bay- 
onets, and it is stated that one savage warrior bravely and adroitly thrust aside the bayonet, and 
with his war-club crushed in pieces the head of his adversary. 

But it has been asked by the gentleman from Michigan why did General Harrison wait until 
he was attacked by the Indians at all? Why did he not push on upon the 6th, and at once at- 
tack their towns, and cut them to pieces ! I reply, that if any man will look at the circum- 
stances as they then stood, he will at once perceive that this was impossible, and that, had Gen- 
eral Harrison attempted it, he would have exposed himself to far greater censure than is now 
attempted to be heajted upon him ; and what is now the censure would have been deserved. 
Let it be remembered that General Harrison was directed to act on the defensive, and on the 6th. 
there had been no open declaration of hostilities. The Indians, coming up peaceably to his 
camp, inquired why he had brought so many troops with him 1 That, for themselves, they 
wished for peace, and, as a proof of it, had sent an embassy to him, proposing terms of a per- 
manent pacific arrangement, but, unfortunately, their embassy had failed to meet him, having 
gone down on the opposite side of the river. Could General Harrison, in the face of such a 
declaration, have advanced into their towns and used his bayonets on their women and children ? 
If gentlemen complain so loudly now, what would they have said had he pursued conduct like 
this ? It was not in his nature. He could not do it, and he ought not to have done it. But 



26 

Jid he rely on these specious declarations of the Indians 1 Did he trust their proffers of peace 1 
And, being gulled by their wily protestations, did he walk into the snare wnich they had pre- 
pared for him 1 Hear, on this point, the voice of history : 

" An idea was propagated by the enemies of Governor Harrison, after the battle of Tippe- 
canoe, that the Indians had forced him to encamp on a place chosen by them as suitable for the 
attack they intended. The place, however, was chosen by Majors Taylor and Clark, after ex- 
amining all the environs of the town, and when the army of General Hopkins was there in the 
following year, they all united in the opinion that a better spot to resist Indians was not to bo 
found in the whole country. — Moses Daivsoii's Life of General Harrison, pages 207-'8. 

In addition to these authorities, let us hear what is said by military officers who were present 
on the ground : 

"The battle of Tippecanoe having terminated a campaign which led us to victory and honor^ 
it is with pain we behold aspersions in the public prints aiming to destroy the confidence of our 
country in our late commander-in-chief. 

Governor Harrison having relinquished the command of the army lately employed against the 
Indians, and probably as an officer left us forever, the present statement cannot be attributed to 
servile flattery, but to the true and honest expression of our real sentiments in favor of a General 
whose talents, military science, and patriotism, entitle him to a high rank among the worthies 
of the Union ; and whom we consider injured by the gross misrepresentations of the ignorant 
and designing, who are alike inimical to the best of Governments and the best of men. 

" We, therefore, deem it a duty to state as incontestable facts that the commander-in-chief, 
throughout ihe campaign, and in the hour of battle, proved himself the soldier and the General; 
that on the night of the action, by his order, we slept on our arms, and rose on our posts ; that, 
notwithstanding the darkness of the night, and the most consummate savage cunning of the en- 
emy in eluding our sentries, and in rapidly rushing through the guards, we were not found un- 
prepared ; that few of them were abje to enter our camp, and those few doomed never to return ; 
that in pursuance of his orders, which were adapted to every emergency, the enemy were de- 
feated with a slaughter almost unparalleled among savages. Indeed, one sentiment of confi- 
dence, respect, and affection, towards the commander-in-chief pervaded the whole line of the 
army, which any attempt to destroy we shall consider an insult to our understandings, and an 
injury to our feelings. Should our country again require our services, to oppose a civilized or 
savage foe, we should march under the command of Governor Harrison with the most perfect 
confidence of victory and fame. 

JOEL COOK, Captain 4th Infantry. 

JOSIAH SNELLING, Captain 4th United States Infantry, 

R. C. BARTON, Captain 4th Infantry. 

O. G. BURTOx\, Lieutenant 4th Infantr>-. 

NATHANIEL P. ADAMS, Lieutenant 4th Infantry. 

CHARLES FULLER, Lieutenant 4th Infantry. 

A. HAWKINS, Lieutenant 4th Infantry. 

GEORGE GOODING, 2d Lieutenant 4th Infantry. 

H. BURCHSTEAD, Ensign 4th United States Infantry. 

JOSIAH D. FOSTER, Surgeon 4th Infantry. 

HOSEA BLOOD, Assistant Surgeon 4th Infantry." 

The gentleman would persuade us that when the Indian attack was made, General Harrison 
was in bed, with his clothes off, and his army reposing in scurity, without even sentinels to 
guard them. How does that statement agree with the testimony I have read 1 

But I must again refer the gentleman to the faithful historian and biographer, Moses Dawson, 
to hear what he says on this point also. 

" Whatever might have been the opinion of the Governor and his officers with regard to the 
probability of the attack on that night, ample evidence will be produced that every precau- 
tion that could be taken to resist it with etl'ect was taken ; and that the troops could not have 
been better prejiared, had they been made to remain under arms all nigUt. 

"All the guards that could be used in such a situation, and all such as were used by General 
W^ayne, were employed on this occasion. That is, camp guards, furnishing a chain of senti- 
nels around the whole camp, at such a distance as to give notice of the approach of an enemy 
time enough for the troops to take their position, and yet not so far removed as to prevent their 
retreat on the event of their being overpowered by numbers. 

" In conformity with a general order, the troops went to rest with their clothes and accoutre- 
ments on, and their arms loaded by their sides and their bayonets fixed. 'I'he officers were or- 
dered to sleep in the same manner, and it was the Governor's invariable practice to be complete- 
ly ready to mount his horse at a moment's warning." — Dawsori's Life of Harrison, p. 212. 

We shall see, by the evidence I shall produce before! take my seat, that the companies, in gen- 
eral, were formed and ready for action within two minutes from the firing of the first gun on the 



27 

sentinel, and before the approach of the enemy on the camp, and were ready to receive and repel 
the savages as they came up, and that General Harrison was on his horse in command. Does 
this look as if he had been in bed undressed, sleeping in unsuspecting security ? There is a 
gentleman present, who has been a member of this House for years, who named to me an indi- 
vidual who was aid to General Harrison at the battle of Tippecanoe, and who declared to him 
that General Harrison had not slept at all during the previous night. He expected an attack, 
though it came somewhat sooner than he anticipated. Instead of being in bed and asleep, he 
was up and dressed, and in the act of putting on his boots when the first gun was heard ; when, 
turning to his otncers, he exclaimed, "There are the rascals now." 

Let us hear Captain Snelling : 

" On the night of the 6th of November, preceding the great action, the company under my 
command slept on their arms, with their cartridge boxes on, in obedience to a general order I 
had received some nights before, and which had not been countermanded ; I was awoke by the 
firing of the first gun, seized my sword, and ran to the door of my tent, where I met the orderly 
sergeant, who asked me if the company should form in the front or rear itf the tents — the meji 
were then in the rear, and recollecting that the light of the fires in the front would expose them 
to the fire of the enemy, and probably occasion some confusion, I directed them to form in rear 
and counter-march to the front. The whole time occupied in forming could not have exceeded 
four minutes ; and I had faced to the right for the purpose of marching them to their post in the 
line, when General Harrison rode up and ordered me to cover the ' left flank of the encampment, 
where the riflemen of Major Robb had fallen back.' He rode with the company and pointed out 
the post I should occupy. In this situation I had an opportunity of hearing the orders given t<> 
Major Davies to charge, and saw the unfortunate issue of it. The fire growing warmer, I asked, 
and General Harrison gave me permission to charge; and T a am fully confident that every move- 
ment of my company during the action was made by his orders in person. 

"J. SNELLING, 
" Captain 4lh Regiment U. S. Infantry." 
[ilf. Dawson's Life of Harrisvn, pages 220, 221. 

There is another short letter with which I must trouble the House. It is from Captain Cook.» 
" The situation of my company being in the centre of the left line, it happened to be the most 
secure place in the line. At or near 4 o'clock in the morning, I was alarmed by the discharge 
of a gun, on which I immediately repaired to my company, where I found my men all paraded 
at their posts. The position of the men during the night, together with myself while at rest. 
Was lying on our arms with our clothes on ; as for myself, I lay with my boots and great coat 
on, and accoutrements buckled around me, with my rifle in my arms. At the report of the gun, 
I had no more to do than to throw off my blanket, put my hat on, and go to my company, ten 
or twelve steps from my tent. The time might possibly be one or two minutes, and I found my 
men as above mentioned. JOEL COOK, 

" Captain 4th Reg. Infantry." 
[iW. Dawson's Life of Harrison, pages 321, 222. 

I ask the gentleman's attention to one more. 

" The impression prevails, generally, that the army were surprised in the attack. 

" At the time the army left Vincennes, they were formed in the order of battle against the at- 
tack of Indians, and were never out of this situation till they returned ; each one occupying the 
ground he would defend himself upon, whether marching or at rest upon it. This all-daring idea 
was instifled into the army collectively and individually by the General, from the time we enter- 
ed the wilderness till a trial was had of the eftect. The army was trained to be prepared to re- 
ceive the attack, and nothing but the unremitted attention of General Harrison to enforce the 
necessary discipline could have brought the troops to such a state of perfection and order as the 
result of the battle proved. The fact of the army rising from rest and being ready to receive the 
Indians in two minutes (of which there ought not to be a doubt) after the report of the first fire, 
is sufficient to satisfy all persons capable of judging, as well as all unprejudiced minds, that it 
was not a surprise. The officers and soldiers slept with their clothes and accoutrements on, 
with drawn swords, muskets loaded and bayonets fixed, laying by the sides of those who were to 
use them in the night attack. In this situation, on the morning of the 7th of November, 1811, 
about fifteen minutes before the usual time of rising, the Indians attacked us by firing upon the 
guard, three hundred paces from the lines— they then rushed upon the camp. The troops, al- 
though at rest at this moment, were in line and ready to receive them as they came up. An 
army marching against Indians in this country (the wilderness) is differently situated than when 
going against civilized enemies. The sending out scouts and spies cannot be done with the most 
distant prospect of their returning. The army is thus compelled to keep compact, and their au- 
thority or knowledge of the Indians extended no further than the ground they occupied : the first 
that is known of them is the report of their fire. Such attacks from a civilized force would be 
considered as a surprise, while by Indians it cannot, except the army is unprepared to receive 
them. At the battle of General Wayne, the Indians got the first fire— at the battle of Browns- 



28 

town, the Indians got the first fire, and they got no further advantage at Tippecanoe. These 
battles and their results were similar, except the Indians engaged more desperately in the latter. 
If the army had been surprised, according to the general understanding upon such attacks, I may 
conclude by saying, not one would have ever returned to tell the tale. 

"I am, respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 
"M. Dawsox, Esq. C. LAKRABEE." 

[Daiuson's Life of Harriso)i, page 229. 

"Moses Dawson, Esq. Sir: You request my opinion of General William Henry Harrison 
as a citizen, a soldier, and a general. I have had the pleasure of an acquaintance, intimately, 
for many years with General Harrison, and ever considered him a man of honor ; one who sought 
to do justice, and who was always willing to assist and benefit the condition of those with whom 
he was acquainted and associated, and know him to be the friend of the oppressed and injured. 
Hospitality, without ostentation, was always to be found within his doors, and his household was 
ever ready to extend charity to the sick and needy. 

"As a soldier and an oiticer, I can speak from an acquaintance formed with him as such that 
I shall ever be proud of I served under him in the campaign of 1811, upon the Wabash, as a 
Captain, and shared with him the danger in the action of Tippecanoe, in the night, on the 7th 
November, 1811. No one on the march or in the return did I hear murmur a complaint of the 
General's conduct. He possessed the confidence, and was the pride of the army — his absence 
even for one day was felt by the army. 

"I have thought, and still think, that few generals would have faced danger at so many points 
as General Harrison did in the action of Tippecanoe. Wherever the action was warmest, was 
General Harrison to be found, and heard encouraging and cheering the officers and soldiers. His 
humanity, his attention, and his care of the wounded after the action, from the battle-ground to 
the hospital in Vincennes, was that of a benevolent Christian, and was evidence of the goodness 
of his heart. I cannot but say that I consider General Harrison's conduct in the campaign and 
in the action of Tippecanoe unexceptionable as a soldier and as a General, and will be so con- 
sidered by every soldier and officer of the United States, when correctly informed, who was a 
friend to the late war, an enemy to Indian warfare, and who returned from the army with clean 
hands. I am, sir, yours, &c. 

"THOMAS SCOTT." 
[Moses Daiusoii's Life of General Harrison, p. 228. 

So much for the charge that the army was taken by surprise, and the troops massacred through 
the incapacity and unofficer-like conduct of the commanding General. 

And now, on these solid historical grounds, may I not, with the utmost confidence, rest the 
■whole question as to the far-famed battle of Tippecanoe ? Have I not, or rather has not history 
met and confuted every charge against the fame of General Harrison ] Has it not been shown 
that he could not have fought earlier ? That he chose the ground of his encampment on the 
report of his own staft' officers ? That he was on the alert, and undeceived ] That the army 
was prepared 1 That the attack was met with unparalleled celerity 1 That the battle was fought 
with determined valor, and, though it was a bloody one to our own troops, that it was no less 
fatal to the savage foe 1 If these things can be proved by historical documents, the}' have been 
proved. liet it be remembered that, in thus repelling the base assault on the fair fame of a brave 
and illustrious man, I am not speaking as a politician. No, sir, there is a higher and nobler 
feeling than that of mere party zeal; it is a feeling which comes home to the breast of every 
American — yes, of every honorable and honest man, when he hears the attempt to malign and 
destroy by slander a name connected with the brightest pages of our country's annal#. Why, 
sir, if the name of the veriest enemy I have on the face of the earth were thus linked and en- 
twined and identified with the military glory of my country, I would be the last man living to 
detract in any way from his well-earned laurels, and I should hold myself to be a wretch un- 
worthy of the name of a man could I, for the sake of gratifying a personal resentment or political 
party purpose, thus sacrifice the honor of the land that gave me birth. 

Such was the battle, and what were its consequences 1 Let the gentleman ask Ohio — let him 
ask Indiana — let him inquire of Illinois; nay, of the whole West. The elVcct of the battle was, 
at one blow, to put an end to the war in that section — to give quietness and security to that 
entire frontier. 

Sir, how was General Harrison received when ho returned from that campaign"! The gentle- 
man charges him with being the cause of the havoc of his soldiery, and of sacrificing, through 
his imbecility, some of the best blood of Kentucky. liCt us see what Kentucky herself thought 
of that matter. Let me read to the gentleman a resolution adopted by both branches of the 
Legislature of Kentucky on the 7th of January, 18 12: 

*' Resolved, by the Senate and House (f Representatives of the State of Kentucky, That, 
in the late campaign against the Indians upon the Wabash, Governor William Henry Harrison 
has behaved like a hero, a patriot, and a general ; and that, for his cool, deliberate, skilful, and 
gallant conduct in the battle of Tippecanoe, he well deserves the warmest thanks of his country 
and his nation." 



29 

■ This does not sound much like the indignation of a State whose best blood had been wantonly 
thrown away through the incapacity of an incompetent otTiccr. And, in further confirmation 
of the feeling expressed in this resolution, I refer to a fact, which is in itself the most complete 
and unanswerable refutation which any man could conceive of the base and unfounded slander 
which has now been revived. When Kentucky raised a volunteer force to go upon the lines and 
defend a country menaced by the British force, she placed Harrison, though not a citizen of 
Kentucky, at its head, as the first military man in the West. And mark the following testi- 
monial of Mr. Madison : 

"James Madison, in his message to Congress, November 1812, said: 'An ample force 
from the States of Kentuck)% Ohio, Peimsylvania, and Virginia, is placed, with the addition of 
a few regulars, under the command of Brigadier General Harrison, who possesses the entire 
confidence of his fellow-soldiers, among whom are citizens, some of them volunteers in the ranks, 
not less distinguished by their political stations than by their personal merits.' " 

And what said Indiana] In the Legislature of Indiana, on the 12th November, 1811, the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, General William Johnson, thus addressed General 
Harrison : 

•' Sir : The House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory, in their own name, and in behalf 
of their constituents, most cordially reciprocate the congratulations of your Excellency on the 
glorious result of the late sanguinary conflict with the Shawnee Prophet, and the tribes of Indians 
confederated with him. When we see displayed in behalf of our country, not only the consum- 
mate abilities of the General, but the heroism of the man; and when we take into view the 
benefits which must result to that country from those exertions, we cannot for a moment with- 
hold our meed of applause." 

And lastly, what said James Madison, in a special message to Congress, December 18, 1811 ! 
He said : i 

" While it is deeply lamented that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which 
took place on the 7th ultimo. Congress will see, with satisfaction, the dauntless spirit and forti- 
tude victoriously displayed by every description of the troops engaged, as well as the collected firm- 
ness which distinguished their commander, on an occasion requiring the utmost exertion of valor 
and discipline. It may reasonably be expected that the good effects of a critical defeat and dis- 
persion of a combination of savages which appears to have been spreading to a greater extent 
will be experienced, not only in the cessation of the murders and depredations committed on our 
frontier, but in the prevention of any hostile incursions otherwise to have been apprehended." 

Need I go further 1 No, sir, not for any Western man. Nothing that I can say can add 
aught to their confidence in General Harrison, or their undying gratitude for his great military 
services. 

But the gentleman from Michigan is not content with giving us his commentary on the battle 
of Tippecanoe ; he still pursues General Harrison with a persevering malignity that is truly sur- 
prising. He complains, with no less severity, of the movements of the General after that battle. 
Tecumseh, the great man of the Indian tribes — one of Nature's great men, noble-minded, of high 
talent, of enlarged and comprehensive views, and with the highest sense of honor, beholding the 
slaughter of that fatal field, and feeling deeply the blow which had been given to the power and 
fame of the red man, planned, in his heart, a mighty revenge. He collected a large Indian force, 
and united himself to the British army under Proctor, with a determination to regain the ground 
which had been lost. To meet him and the British General, (Proctor,) General Harrison concen- 
trated his forces at the North, on Lake Erie, where we next find him in active operation. The 
gentleman has asked why he did not at once march forward, recover Detroit, which Hull had 
surrendered, and capture Maiden 1 Sir, there were some very embarrassing circumstances in 
General Harrison's situation. Through some influence. General Winchester had been i.ssociated 
with him in command. There was, in fact, a collision between the authorities of the two com- 
manders; and no man, at all versed in history, need be told of the injurious effect which has 
always followed such an arrangement. In the present instance, it resulted in the defeat at the 
river Raisin. In the blame of that defeat, be it rememliered, Harrison has no share ; the com- 
mand was with General Winchester, and the responsibility rested on him. That defeat reduced 
the American force to less than a thousand men — in fact, to little over eight hundred. Harrison 
was thrown back, and, being baffled in the hope of then delivering Detroit, he was compelled to 
retire on the Maumee, and took post at Fort Meigs, a little above the foot of the rapids. Here 
he had to collect stores, to recall and concentrate his scattered forces, while, at the same time, he 
was charged with the defence of the whole line of that Northern frontier. I was then a lad in 
Ohio, too young myself to join the army, but my neighbors and near relatives were there. They 
had left the bosom of their families, but they did it under this consolation, that those families 
■were now freed from the dread of the torch and the scalping-knife of the savage. Not a family 
left their home — they knew that Harrison was upon the lines, and they felt as if there was an 
impregnable wall between them and danger. 



30 

The experienced gentleman from Michigan charges General Harrison, at this time, with being 
slow and dilatory. Sir, there are, I believe, in war, other claims to merit besides a rash and 
reckless valor. Had General Harrison, under the circumstances then existing, rushed forward 
as the gentleman would have had him to do, he would have left behind him an open avenue, 
through which the savages would have poured in, spreading havoc and desolation through all 
our settlements. What the calculations and expectations of the country may have been I can- 
not tell ; but if immediate success was indeed expected against Maiden, there certainly was a great 
mistake as to the forces requisite for such an enterprise. 

Hear what his own officers sa}' : 

"To his Excellency Wm. Hexry Hakrisox, 

" Commander-in-chief of the Northwester?! Army. 
" On retiring from service, sir, we are happy in assuring 'you of our fullest confidence, and 
that of our respective commands, in the measures you have taken ; they have been cautious and 
guarded, such as would at this time have carried our arms to the walls of Maiden, had not the 
unhappy occurrences at the river Raisin checked your progress, and, for a short time, thwarted 
your plans of operation. That you may soon teach the enemy the distinction between an hon- 
orable and a savage warfare, by planting our standard in the heart of their country, and regain 
the honor and territory we have lost, and, as a just tribute to valor, toils and suffering, receive 
the grateful thanks of a generous and free people, is among the first, the wannest wishes of our 
heirts. " EDWARD W. TUPPER, Brigadier General. 

SIMON PERKINS, Brigadier General. 

CHARLES MILLER, Colonel. 

JOHN ANDREWS, Lieutenant Colonel. 

WILLIAM RAYEN, Colonel. 

ROBERT SPAFFORD, Lieut. Col. 2d reg. Ohio quota. 

N. BEASLEY, Major. 

JAMES GALLOWAY, Major. 

SOLOMON BENTLEY, Major. 

GEORGE DARROW\ Major. 

W. W. COTGREAVE, Major. 

JACOB FREDERICK, Major." 

[Dawson's Life of Harrison, page 377. 

It is impossible to estimate correctly the distressing and perplexing difficulties he had here to 
encounter, in transporting the necessary materials for an active campaign and the defence of the 
Northern frontier; every article to be carried through an extensive wilderness, uninhabited, with- 
out roads or canals, with a numerous and vigilant enemy before him to watch and keep in check. 
Here Harrison was, and conducted every thing in person. 

The British now approached the line, and General Harrison was attacked and besieged at Fort 
Meigs by a vastly superior force. He had managed to collect about one thousand cliective men, 
while the force of Indians and regulars under Proctor was not less than four limes that number. 
The historian says that, in the construction of Fort Meigs, the officers worked in the ditches, 
side by side with the soldiers, and, wlien the fort was assailed, its ammunition, powder, and ball, 
&c., was totally insufficient, if the siege had been protracted to a great length. 

I will not mention what was the character and conduct of that volunteer force which came to 
his aid from Ohio and Kentucky. I will leave this to abler hands. There is a gentleman near 
ine (pointing to Mr. Undkiiwood, of Kentucky,) who was in the service with General Harrison ; 
he knows, and is willing and ready to testify. 'J'here are others around me who wqfe wounded 
while in the army with Harrison, and now members of this House. They know whether I am 
telling the truth, when I say that the defence of Fort Meigs may fairly be considered as one of 
the most brilliant and extraordinary events which distinguished the late war; that work of de- 
fence, consisting of a nnid embankment and an enclosure of picquets, was defended tiiumphantly 
and successfully by about one thousand men, for many days, against the attack of Proctor, who 
commanded an army of British and Indians, at least four times the number of Harrison's, and 
well furnished for the siege. Such were the skill, the bravery, and the indefaligabic efforts of 
General Harrison — such was the success of the r, peatcd sallies he made, that he compelled the 
enemy to ahatidon the siege in despair. 

One incident is worth mentioning, that, on the second day of the attack, Proctor sent an officer 
with a flag to demand the surrender of the post, on the grounds that the American forces were 
too weak to sustain the siege against his overwhelming force, and General Proctor was anxious 
to save the effusion of blood. General Harrison promptly replied : 

"If General Proctor knows the usages of war, as I am bound to believe he docs, he must 
cither have considered me ignorant of them, or he must have intended an insult. It was his duty 
to make the demand before he commenced firing on the works. But, sir, said he, go back and 
tell your General that I know my own force and his, and that I shall defend the ^vorks to the 
last extremity. Tell him, further, that, if he ever possesses the fort, he ahull obtain it in a war/ 



31 

that will give him more honor in the esfimafioii of his Governmoit than he could receive from 
a thousand surrenders."' — Dawson's Life of Harrison, p. 392. 

Let me here, Mr. Speaker, introduce some testimony relative to the investment of Lower San- 
dusky by the British and Indians: the nol)le defence of that fort by the gallant Croghan, con- 
cerning which the most unfounded representations have been made, and are still made, in rela- 
tion to the conduct of General Harrison on that occasion, and that in the face of positive evidence 
to the contrary : 

" LowETi Sasduskt, August 27, 1813. 

"I have, with much regret, seen in so7nc of the public prints such misrepresentations respect- 
ing my refusal to evacuate this post, as arc calculated not only to injure me in the est'rnation of 
military men, but also to excite unfavorable impressions as to the propriety of General Harrison's 
conduct relative to this affair. 

"His character as a military man is too well established to need my approbation or support. 
But his public services entitle him, at least, to common justice ; this affair does not furnish cause 
of reproach. If public opinion has been lately misled respecting his late conduct, it will require 
but a moment's cool dispassionate reflection to convince them of its propriety. The m.easures 
recently adopted by him, so far from deserving censure, are the clearest proofs of his keen pene- 
tration and ahle generalship. It is true that I did not proceed immediately to execute his order 
to evacuate this post; but this disobedience was not, as some would wish to believe, the result of 
a fixed determination to maintain the post contrary to his most positive orders, as will appear from 
the following detail, which is given to explain my conduct. 

" About 10 o'clock on the morning of the 30th ult., a letter from the Adjutant General's Of- 
fice, dated Seneca Town, July 29, 181^3, was handed me by Mr. Conner, ordering me to aban- 
don this post, burn it, and retreat that night to head-quarters. On the reception of the order, I 
called a council of officers, in which it was determined not to abandon the place, at least until 
the further pleasure of the General should be known, as it was thought an attempt to retreat in 
the open day, in the face of a superior force of the enemy, would be mere hazardous than to re- 
main in the fort, under all its disadvantages. I therefore wrote a letter to the Gencr.d, couched 
in such terms as I thought were calculated to deceive the enemy should it fall into his hands, 
which I thought more than probable, as well as to inform the General, should it be so fortunate 
as to reach him, that I should wait to hear from him before I should proceed to execute his order. 
This letter, contrary to my expectations, was received by the General, who, not knowing what 
reasons urged me to write in a tone'so decisive, concluded, very rationally, that the manner of it 
was demonstrative of the most positive determination to disobey his order under any circumstan- 
<^ei3. I was, therefore, suspended from the command of the fort, and ordered to head-quarters. 
But, on explaining to the General my reason for not executing his orders, and my object in 
using the stylo I had done, he was so perfectly satislicd with the explanation that I was imme- 
diately reinstated in the command. 

"It will be recollected that the order above alluded to was written on the night previous to my 
receiving it. Had it been delivered to me, as it was intended, that night, I should have obeyed 
it without hesitation; its not reaching me in time was the only reason which induced me to con- 
sult jny officers on the propriety of waiting the General's further orders. 

"It has been stated, also, that, 'upon my representations of my ability to maintain the post, 
the General altered his determination to abandon it.' This is incorrect. No such representa- 
tion was ever made. And the last order I received from the General was precisely the same as 
that first given, viz; 'That if I discovered the approach of a large British force by water (pre- 
suming that they would bring heavy artillery) time enough to effect a retreat, I Avas to do so ; 
but, if I could not retreat with safety, to defend the post to the last extremity.' 

"A day or two before the enemy appeared bef)re Fort Meigs, the General had reconnoitered 
the surrounding ground, and being informed that the hill on the opposite side of Sandusky com- 
pletely commanded Xh-i fort, I offered to undertake, with the troops under my command, to re- 
move it to that side. The General, upon rejection, thought it best not to attempt it, as he be- 
lieved that if the enemy again appeared on this side of the lake, it would be before the work could 
be finished. 

"It is useless to disguise the fact that this fort is commanded by the points of high ground 
around it : a single stroke of the eye made this clear to me the first time I had occasion to exam- 
ine the neighborhood, with a view of discovering iho relative strength and weakness of the place. 
"It would be insincere to .say that I am not llattered by the many handsome things which 
Iiave been said about the defence which was made by the troops under my command; but I de- 
bars no plaudits which are bestowed upon me at the expense of General Harrison. 

"I hive at all times enjoyed his confidence as far as my rank in the army entitled me to it; 
and on proper occasions received his marked attention. I have felt the warmest attachment for 
him as a man, and my confidence in him as an able commander remains unshaken. I feel 
every assurance that he will at all times do me ample justice ; and nothing could give me more 
pain than to see his enemies seize upon this occasion to deal out their unfriendly feelings and 
acrimonious diohkc : and, as long as he continues (as in my humble opinion he has hitherto 



32 

done) to make the wisest arrangements and most judicious disposition which the forces under his 
command will justify, I shall not hesitate to unite with the army in bestowing upon him that 
confidence which he so richly merits, and which has upon no occasion been withheld. 

"Your friend, "GEORGE CROGIIAN, 

"Major 17th Infantry, Commanding Lower Sandusky." 
[Dawson's Life of General Han-ison. 

LowKn Seneca Towx, August 19, 1813. 
"The undersigned, being the general, field, ai?d staft' officers with that portion of the north- 
western army under the immediate command of General Harrison, have observed, with regret 
and surprise, that charges, as improper in the form as in the substance, have been made against 
the conduct of General Harrison during the recent investment of Lower Sandusky. * * 

" On a review of the course then adopted, we are decidedly of the opinion that it was such as 
was dictated by military wisdom, and by a due regard to our own circumstances and to the situ- 
ation of the enemy. The reasons for tliis opinion it is evidently improper now to give ; but wc 
hold ourselves ready at a future period, and when other circumstances shall have intervened, to 
satisfy every man of its correctness who is anxious to investigate, and willing to receive, the^ 
truth. And with a ready acquiescence, beyond the mere claims of military duty, we are prepa- 
red to obey a General whose measures meet our most deliberate approbation, and merit that of 
his country. LEWIS CASS, Brigadier General U. S. Army. 

SAMUEL WELLS, Col. 17th Regiment U. S. Infantrv. 

THOS. D. OWL\GS, Col. 2Sth Regiment U. S. Infantry. 

GEORGE PAULL, Col. 17th Regunent U. S. Infantry. 

J. C. BARTLETT, Col. Quartermaster General. 

JAMES V. BALL, Lieutenant Colonel. 

ROBERT MORRISON, Lieutenant Colonel. 

GEO. TODD, Major 19th Regiment U. S. Infantry. 

WM. TRIGG, Major 28th Regiment U. S. Infantry. 

J AS. SMILEY, Major 28th Regiment U. S. Infantry. 

RD. GRAHAM, Major 17th Regiment U. ;N. Intantry. 

GEO. CROGHAN, Major 17lh Regiment U. S. Infantry. 

L. HUKILL, Major and Assistant Inspector General. 

E. D. WOOD, Major Engineers." 

[Dawson's Life of Harrison, pages 409, 410. 
The gentleman is not willing to give General Harrison the credit of originating the plan of ait 
armament upon the lake. He says that the General was unwilling to follow the directions given 
him, and had inquired of the Secretary whether the command of ttie lake could be olitained. 
Hence the gentleman concludes that he was opposed to the measure of the Department, and dif- 
fered from the Secretary in opinion, though he could not stop his plans. From that time, says 
the gentleman, the Secretary of War adopted harsh measures; that the standing ot General Har- 
rison was low at the Department ; that the discretion he formerly exercised was taken from him ; 
and that the measures were distinctly laid down which he was to pursue. 

Sir, here is conclusive evidence that the suggestions of getting command of the lake came from 
General Harrison : 

" There can be no doubt, however, but that the fleet built at Erie, by which the command of 
the lakes was obtained, was a project recommended by General Harrison, and adopted by Mr. 
Madison, on account of his unbounded confidence in General Harrison's opinions and rcconi • 
mendations. In one letter he says, ' admitting that Maiden and Detroit are both taken, Macki- 
naw and St. .Joseph will both remain in the hands of the enemy until we can create a force ca- 
pable of contending with the vessels which the British have on Lake Michigan.' And in another 
letter he says, ' should an offensive operation be suspended till spring, it is my decided opinion 
that the cheapest and most eflbctual plan will be to obtain the command of Lake Erie. This 
being once elVectcd, every difficulty would be removed. An army of four thousand men, landed 
on the north .side of the lake below Maiden, will reduce that place, retake Detroit, and, with the 
aid of the fleet, proceed down the lake to co-operate wish the army from Niagara.' " 

[Extracts from General Harrison'' s Ltiters. 

Let mc now, Mr. Speaker, read a testimony or two as to his conduct at the battle of the 
Thames. It is true that the glory of that battle has caused it to be so often mentioned that in 
some ears it has become a twice-told tale ; but, sir, are its merits lessened because it has been 
often repeated 1 What docs the gentleman say to the following 1 

" Resolved by the Seriate and House of Reprsentatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they are hereby, presented to Major 
General William Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky, and through 
them to the oflicers and men under their command, for their gallantry and good conduct in defeat- 
ing the combined British and Indian forces under Major General Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper 
Canada, on the fifth day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, capturing the 



33 

British arm}', with their baggage, cainp equipage, and artillery; and that the President of the 
States be requested to cause two gold medals to he struck, emblematical of this triumph, and 
presented to General Harrison md Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky. 

"H. CLAY, 
" Speaker of the House of Representativ s. 
"JOHN GAILLARD, 
" President of the Senate, pro tempore. 

"April 4, I81S.— Approved : "JAMES MONROE. 

Battle of the Thames. 

" A more able disposition could not be made under such circumstances than was made by 
General Harrison. His conduct on this day is distinguished by a masterly device of his own, 
purely original, and such as none but a bold and inventive genius, peculiarly formed for ihe mil- 
itary profession, could have hit upon, or would have hazarded. It was not until the 5th of Oc- 
tober that Proctor was overtaken. On that day the enemy was discerned in a position skilfully 
chosen. A narrow strip of dry land, flanked by the river Thames on the left, and by a swamp 
on the right, was occupied by his regular infantry and artillery, while on the right flank lay Te- 
cumseh with his followers on the eastern margin of the swamp. But Proctor committed an error 
in forming his infantry in open order. General Harrison availing himself of the fact, and aware 
that troops so disposed could not resist a charge of mounted men, he directed Colonel Johnson to 
dash through the enemy's line in column. The movement was made with brilliant success. 
The mounted men charged with promptitude and vigor, broke through the line of the enemy, 
fornicd in the rear, and assailed the broken line with a success unequalled, and nearly^ the whole 
of the British regulars were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. On the left the Indians 
contended more severely, but Tecuraseh being killed in the battle, they were soon subdued. 
Proctor fled in shameful desertion of his troops, escorted by his life-guard. The defeat of the 
enemy wa.s complete. All the baggage of Proctor and military stores, together with his oflficial 
papers, fell into the hands of General Harrison; and several field-pieces which had been taken 
from the British in the Revolutionary war at Saratoga and Yorktown, but which had been ehame- 
fully surrendered by Hull, at Detroit, were retaken. The war having been thus gloriously ter- 
minated in his own district, General Harrison repaired to Erie, and soon after to the seat of Gov- 
ernment, Washington city. His resignation soon followed, as he retired to his private residence 
at North Bend, in the State of Ohio, and is now living as a private citizen." — Sketches of ihe 
Life of General Harrison. 

And what is the gentleman's opinion of the competency of Colonel Johnson to form an opin- 
ion of his commander, whether as a civil or military character? Hear him : 

" Who is General Harrison 1 The son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, who spent the greater part of his large fortune in redeeming the pledge he then gave, of 
his • fortune, life, and sacred honor,' to secure the liberties of his country. 

" Of the career of General Harrison I need not speak — the history of the West is his histor}'. 
For forty years he has been identified with its interests, its perils, and its hopes. Universally 
beloved in the walks of peace, and distinguished by his ability in the councils of his country, he 
has been yet more illustriously distinguished in the field. 

"During the late war he was longer in active service than any other general officer; he was, 
perhaps, oftener in action than any one of them, and never sustained a defeat." 

And hear Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, and Commodore Perry : 

Extract of a letter from Governor Shelby, dated at 

"Frankfort, April2\, 1816. 

"In short, sir, from the time I joined you to the moment of our separation, I believe that no 
commander ever did, or could, make greater exertions than you did to effect the great objects of the 
campaign. I admired your plans, and thought them executed with great energy; particularly your 
order of battle, and arrangement for landing on the Canada shore, were calculated to inspire every 
officer and man with confidence that we could not be defeated by any thing like our own number. 

"Until after I had served the campaign of 1813, I was not aware of the difficuliies which 
you had to encounter as commander of the northwestern army. I have since often said, and 
still do believe, that the duties assigned to you on that occasion were more arduous and difficult 
to accomplish than any I had ever known confided to any commander; and with respect to the 
zeal and fidelity witii which you executed that high and important trust, there are thousands in 
Kentucky, as well as myself, who believed it could not have been committed to better hands. 

" With sentiments of the most sincere regard and esteem, I have the honor to be, with great 
respect, your obedient servant, "ISAAC SHELBY." 

[Dawso7i\^ Life nf Harrison, page 423. 

Extract of a letter from Commodore Perry, dated at 

"Newport, August 18, 1817. 
" Although I have little or no pretension to military knowledge as relates to an army, still I 
may be allowed to bear testimony to your zeal and activity in the pursuit of the British army 
3 



34 

under General Proctor, and to say the prompt change made by you in the order of battle, on dis- 
covering the position of the enemy, always has appeared to me to have evinced a high degree ol 
military talent. I concur most sincerely with the venerable Governor Shelby in his general ap- 
probation of your conduct (as far as it came under my observation) in that campaign. 
" With great regard, I am, my dear sir, your friend, 

"0. H. PERRY." 
[Dawso77's Life of Harrison, page 423. 

Does this look aa if General Harrison was indebted to others for the suggestion of every mili- 
tary movement'? Such is the insinuation of the gentleman from Michigan, but such is nc' the 
opinion of men who served with him, served under him, were eye-witnesses of his conduct, and 
had a deep and vital stake in its consequences. 

We come now to the closing scenes of his military histor}'. When, after having restored 
peace and tranquillity to the Western country, drove the enemy from our borders, and put an 
end to the war in that region, he went to Ohio, and shortly afterwards resigned ; having first 
repaired to the seat of Government, where we have seen, instead of his standing having been 
impaired in any degree in the heads of Departments or with Congress, as the gentleman from 
Michigan would have us to believe, he was received, yes, sir, hailed in triumph, by the Presi- 
dent, Mr. Madison, and by Congress. 

His journey from the seat of war to Washington was a triumph. Military glory sat upon his 
brow, and wherever he came he was met with the heartfelt cheerings of his countrymen, who 
hailed him as their deliverer. Alas ! that there should be found a man in this House who seeks 
to pluck a leaf from such laurels. Sorry am I for the gentleman himself! And still more sorry 
for a party who, while the British feel and admit the valor of our arms, in what has been 
well denominated the second war of independence, attempt at home to stab a reputation which is 
ihe proud property of his country. In Harrison did the British feel American power and Amer- 
ican independence — in him was British power prostrated, humbled, and made to lick the dust. 
Never did the American eagle perch more proudly than on the Thames, and yet there are those 
who would stab to the heart the reputation of him by whom the second independence was won. 
Sir, I will compare the opinion of the gentleman from Michigan with the opinion of President 
Madison : 

" The success on Lake Erie having opened a passage to the territory of the enemy, the officer 
commanding the Northwestern aims transferred the war thither, and, rapidly pursuing the hostile 
troops fleeing with their savage associates, forced a general action, which quickly terminated in 
the capture of the British, and dispersion of the savage force. 

" This result is signally honorable to Major General Harjusox, hy whose military talents 
it leas prepared." 

What says die lamented Colonel Davies 1 — that very officer whose blood, according to the 
gentleman from Michigan, was wantonly wasted at the battle of Tippecanoe. In a letter, dated 
the 24th of August, 1811, he delivers this emphatic opinion : 

" I make free to declare that I have imagined there were two military men in the West, and 
General Harrison is the lirst." 

That was the judgment of that distinguished and bruve Kentuckian. Now listen to the public 
testimony of a distinguished Pennsylvanian : 

From the message of Simon Snyder, Governor of I'ennsylvunia, December 10, 1811. 

" Already is the brow of the young warrior Croghan, encircled with laurels, and the blessings 
of thousands of women and children rescued from the scalping-knife of the ruthless savage of the 
wilderness, and from the still more savage Proctor, rest on Harrison and his gallant army." 

Let mc add one or two more testimonials, and then I will bid adieu to the military character 
and standing of William Henry Harrison. 

Governor Shelby to Mr. Madison, May 18, 1814, say.s : 

" I feel no hesitation to declare to you that I believe General Harrison to be one of the first 
military characters 1 ever kneio.''^ 

Colonel Richard M. Johnson to General Harrison, July 4, 1813, says: 

'* M'e did not want to serve under cowards or traitors, but undr one [Harrison] ivho had 
proved himself to be wise, prudent, and brave." 

The opinion of the honorable Langdon Cheves, of the importance of the victory of the 
Thames, and the bravery of General Wm. H. Harrison: 

*^The victory of Harrison ivas.'mch as icould have secured to a Roman General, in the best days 
of the Republic, the honors of a triumph/ He put an end to the loar in the uppermost Canada." 

The gentleman from Indiana placed the question of General Harrison's reputation solely upon 
the ground of his military achievements, but therein he did him great injustice. His country 
has certainly not been of that opinion, as will aj)pear from a simple enumeration of the succes- 
sion of civil posts to which thsy have called this faithful public servant, Wm. H. HAHHisoif. 



35 

In 1791, when 19 year.s of age, he was appointed by Washington an ensign in ouc infant army. 

In 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant: and in 1793 joined the legion under 
General Wayne, and in a few days theieafler was selected by him as one of his Aids. 

On the 24th of August, 1794, he distinguished himself in the battle of the Miami, and elicit- 
ed the most flattering written approbation of General Wayne. 

In 1795, he was wade a Captain, and was placed in command of Fort Washington. 

In 1797, he was appointed by President Adams Secretary of the IVorthwestern Territory, and 
ex officio Lieutenant Governor. 

In 1798, he was chosen a Delagate to Congress. 

In 1801, he was appointed Governor of Indiana, and in the same year President Jefierson ap- 
pointed him sole commissioner for treating with the Indians. 

In 1S09, he was appointed Governor of Indiana, by Madison. 

On the 7th of November, 1811, he gained the great victory of TIPPECANOE. 

On the 11th September, 1812, the siege of Fort Meigs commenced — lasted live days, and was 
terminated by the brilliant and successful sortie of General Harrison. 

On the 5th of October, 1813, he gained the splendid victory ot the THAMES, over the 
British and Indians under Proctor. 

In 1814, he was appointed by Madison one of the Commissioners to treat with the Indians, 
and in the same year, with his colleagues. Governor Shelby and General Cass, concluded the 
celebrated treaty of Greenville. 

In 1815, he was again appointed such (Commissioner, with General McArthur and Mr. Gra- 
ham, and negotiated a treaty at Detroit. 

In 1816, he was elected a member of Congress. 

In January, 1818, he introduced a resolution in honor of Kosciusko, and supported it in one 
of tlie most feeling, and classical, and eloquent speeches ever delivered in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

In 1819, he was elected a member of th'- Ohio Senate. 

In 1824, he was elected Senator in Congress, and was appointed, in 1825, Ciiairman of the 
Mihtary Committee, in place of General Jackson, who had resigned. 

In 1827, he was appointed Minister to ('olomliia, and in 1829 wrote his immortal letter to 
Bolivar, the deliverer of South America. 

Had I not already detained the House so long, it would be a pleasing task to dwell on the 
manner in which he discharged the important duties of these successive stations. It has but 
deepened the imjiression before produced by his military services, and has given him a hold in 
the hearts of his countrymen, which the utmost eilbrts of malice and detraction will never be able 
to destroy or impair. 

Here I will make only one remark on the eminent services of General Harrison, while a dele- 
gate in Congress from the Territory. He had seen the injustice of the monopoly introduced into 
the LAND STSTKM of the United States, by whicii the poorer class of citizens were effectually ex- 
cluded from its benefits. The public lands were sold in tracts so large that none but the wealthy 
could purchase. The poor man was coini)elIed to buy second-handed, and consequently at an 
advanced price; he was at the mercy of the speculator. Harrison had witnessed the oppressive 
operation of that principle, and resolved to correct the evil. He brought the subject before Con- 
gress, exposed the injustice and iniquity of the plan, and obtained tlie passage of a law directing 
tiie lands to be subdivided and sold in small tracts. That alteration in the system placed the 
poor man on a footing with the man of wealth, and put it in the power of the entire West to be- 
come freeholders and independent farmers. It should be known to every one by whose energy 
this was obtained. The records of Congress show that this was Harrison ! His energy, his 
sense of justice, secured this great benefit to the independent farmers of the West, and raised the 
poor man to comfort and to competence. 

I should love to trace him back to his illustrious ancestry — illustrious like himself, by the ser- 
vices they have done their country. I should love to follow him from the paternal mansion in 
Virginia, where he vowed away his life and fortune at the shrine of his country's glorv, to the 
peaceful shades of the Great Bend, where he reposes from the toils of the camp and all the labors 
of high public employment, and seeks his enjoyment and earns an honorable independence by 
cultivating the bosom of the earth. But for this I have but little time, and it is not necessary. 

But, sir, I must be permitted merely to sketch at his parentage and education. 

" General Harrison is descended from one of the oldest and most respectable families in Vir- 
ginia. Through the earliest records of the colonies, the name of Harrison may be traced in the 
highest order of office. His father, Benjamin Harrison, rendered himself particularly conspicu- 
ous by his prompt adoption of the cause of the colonies, in defiance of the suggestions of self- 
interest, which, at that period, would have dictated an adherence to the cause of the mother coun- 
try. His possessions in the country were large, and his personal influence extensive and com- 
manding. Insensible, however, to every personal interest, he, on the first breaking out of the 
Revolutionary troubles, without hesitation or delay, formed the generous resolution to cling to the 
cause of his country, in defence of her rights and independence — to put his property, his life, and 
all his hopes on the hazard of the die — nay, if it should be necessary, to lay them all down as a 
sacrifice in the struggle — and, in a word, to rise or fall with the fortunes of America. 



36 

*' As to his uolitics, General Harrison has always been a Democratic Republican of the school 
of Washington, Jeti'erson, and Madison. And liia father was one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. Here we see General Harrison, born of the blood and bred in the school 
of patriotism, exhibits in his whole career, civil and military, most brilliantly the character and 
acts of an able statesman, a high-minded patriot, a brave soldier, and a successful commander- 
There are }iersons who no doubt yet remember his arrival at Cincinnati. The young ensign, 
then a stripling of nineteen years of age, tall, spare, but manly in his person, was now just com- 
mencing his life of usefulness. He here at once entered on all the hardships of a savage war,, 
in an unbroken wilderness." — Sketches of the life uf General Harrison. 

And here, Mr. Speaker, commenced that reputation which, matured by future illustrious ser- 
vices, has won for him his country's confidence and his cotintry'-j laurels. I think it my duty, 
Mr. Speaker, here in my place in the House, to give a mere passing notice to one or two of 
those base slanders intended to detract from the fair reputation and full confidence which Gener- 
al Harrison so richly possesses, and the well-earned laurels which so gracefully adorn his brow. 
It is strange how a sense of guilt will drive the wrong-doer to a pretended justification, no 
matter how false may be the grounds. It would seem that, sensible that something was neces- 
sary to palliate the arbitrary recall of General Harrison from his mission to Colombia, it is said 
" that he was recalled on account of his having interfered with the donusiic relations of the na- 
tion." Now, sir, I wish to call the attention of the gentleman and his party to the following 
simple statement of facts, which give the most unequivocal denial to this base falsehood : 

"On the 10th day of November, 1S28, General Harrison, as Minister to Colombia, embarked 
from the United States on his mission. 

" On the 27th day of February, 1S29, he presented his credentials at Bogota, and was ' re- 
ceived with great respect. We congratulate Colombia on beholding the interest which is mani- 
fested by the Government of the United States to cultivate the most friendly relations with this 
Republic, by sending among us so distinguished a citizen as General Harrison. The Govern- 
ment has full confidence that his permanent residence in this capital will contribute generally to 
strengthen the harmony and good understanding which happily exists between the two nations.' " 

[Official Gazette, Bogota. 
"So that it was impossible that it could have been known in the United States on the 12th 
day of March, 1829, when General Harrison was superseded by Thomas P. Moore, of Kentucky, 
that he had arrived at Columbia, much less that any dilficulty had occurred there. Mr. Moore 
was appointed on the 12th of March, only twelve days after General Harrison presented his cre- 
dentials at Bogota, and no difficulty had then taken place. So that he was not recalled upon 
any charge whatever." 

Not content here, General Harrison is charged with being a federalist of the old school, and a 
friend of the alien and sedition laws. 

This, Mr. Speaker, is a flat, point-blank falsehood. Do not understand me as charging it 
upon the gentleman from Michigan ; by no means ; but, sir, the whole life of General Harrison 
shows it to be a falsehood. At the time referred to (in 1799 and 1800) he was only a Delegate 
in Congress from the Northwestern Territory, and had no vote. He says, in reply to Mr. Ran- 
dolph, in the Senate, in 1826, that, having no vote, he did not think it proper to take part in 
the discussion of any of the great political questions which divided the two parties. His busi- 
ness was to procure the passage of the bills he had introduced for the benefit of the people he rep- 
resented. Neither Mr. Randolph nor any other person had any means of knowing his political 
principles, unless he obtained them in private convcr.s;ition. And (continued General Harrison) 
" my op()osition to the alien and sedition law was so well known in the Territory, that a prom- 
ise was c.\tortc<l from me by my friends in the Legislature, that I would express no opinions 
which were in the least calculated to defeat the important objects with which I was charged." 
Here, Mr. Speaker, is this charge met by General Harrison in the Senate, denied and refuted, 
and not attempted to be set up afterwards. And, in his address in 1822, he declares himself ":s 
republican of the old Jell'ersonian school." And I defy any man, friend or ioe, to produce any 
authentic proof in support of the charge of feder lism or friendship to the alien and sedition law. 
One word more. He is charged with being a friend of internal improvements, and in favor of 
every profligate expenditure of the public money. In reply, I say to the gentleman from Michi- 
gan and his party friends, that, in relation to the power of the Government to appropriate money 
for the purposes of internal improvement. General Harrison aj)pcars to have entertained no doubt. 
Besides his votes in favor of appropriations for the continuance of the Cumberland road, one ol 
his firt acts, after taking his seat in the House, was to move to instruct the Committee on Roads 
and Canals "to inquire into the expediency of granting money, to be expended under the direc- 
tion of the President, for removing obstructions in the navigation of the Ohio river, created by 
the falls, near Louisville, Kentucky." But, sir, the charge that he is in favor of profligate or 
even indiscriminate expenditures of public money, is totally false, as all his votes in Congress 
show. To use his own language, "he was in favor of every practical retrenchment Iti the ex- 
penditures of the Government." And, in his letter to Mr. Sherrod Williams, he declares it to 
be his opinion that no money should be taken from the Treasury of the United States to be ex- 
pended for internal improvements but for those which are strictly national. 



37 

Once more, sir, ami I am done with ihis part of the subject. He is also charged with being 
in favor of an imposing standing army, ^o, Mr. Speaker, is every citizen in favor of an army. 
And the present Secretary of War, in his last report, proposes to divide the United States into 
miUtary districts, similar to the districts of Cromwell, and increase the army of militia to two 
hundred thousand men, one-half to be kept in active service. But it is well known that General 
Harrison's principal reliance for the defence of the country was not on a standing army, but on a 
well-disciplined militia. In proof of this we refer, among other things, to his report as chairman 
of the Committee on the Militia, made in the House on the 17th January, 1817, and to the fol- 
lowing resolution, moved by him on the 3d of February, 1817 : 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and, if any, what, amend- 
ments are necessary to the Constitution of the United States to enable the Government thereof 
to adopt sucli a system of military instruction and discipline for the militia as to make it a safe 
and effectual national defence." 

And, sir, on the bill for the admission of cadets into the Military Academy, December 10, 
1818, General Harrison was in favor of directing a preference to be given to the sons of officers 
and soldiers killed in battle, or who died in service during the late war, and a further preference 
to be given to those least able to educate themselves, and best qualified for the military profession. 

Mr. Speaker, the services of General Harrison are fresh in the recollection of every Western 
man. If he were disposed to forget them, he could not. At every turn and corner he may ob- 
serve some traces of the late or preceding war — the remains of camps, forts, block-houses, and 
other monumental mementoes, to remind him that a warrior had been there ; and each .spot car- 
vies with it some endearing and interesting recollections of the scenes which passed there, and 
with 60 many tongues reports afresh, in the language of the heart, the whole history of blood- 
shed, loss of life, of friends, and all the dismal horrors of the battle-field, and the cruelties of war; 
but they tell, too, that here, and here, and here, the enemy were routed, and victory turned in 
favor of our gallant little army, with Harrison at their head. Sir, the north of the district I have 
the honor to represent is lined with these remains of forts, block-houses, picketings, &c. 

There, sir, is Fort Recovery, on the Wabash, in iMercer county, Ohio. At this fort was St. 
Clair's defeat in 1794, and the fort was recovered back by General Wayne a short time after- 
wards. Harrison was then one of General Wayne's aids-de-camp. Pass from this spot to the 
valley of the Auglaize, and there you have Fort Amanda, Fort Jennings, Fort Brown, and P'ort 
Defiance, the last at the junction of the Auglaize with the Maumee river. The valley of the 
Maumee, below Defiance, has been almost a line of encam])ments. There was also the strong- 
hold of the famous Simon Girty, (Girly's Point,) in a bend of the Maumee river. Here, too, 
on this river, was the seat and heat of action during the late war, (Fort Meigs,) a most com- 
manding position, a little above the foot of the Rapids of the Maumee river. These mouldering 
remains bring fresh to recollection the unwearied diligence with which General Harrison and the 
army under him have sought to guard our JXorthern frontier. 

Sir, Western men need no references to books to enable them to talk about General Harrison. 
There is a language more eloquent than that of the tongue — it is the language of gratitude — 
the language of the heart, in which they converse when Harrison's name is mentioned, and in 
which men, women, and children are all eloquent. And, if the gentleman from Michigan seeks 
votes for his party by detracting from the fame of that individual, he must go somewhere else 
than into the north of Ohio. 

On this river, the ?vlaumee, was fought the memorable battle of mad Anthony Wayne, so 
long remembered and dreaded by the Indians — a battle-field distinguished above all others for the 
slaughter of their race. Sir, it was in that school that our young officer received his first lessons 
in Indian warfare; it was under Wayne that he learned that order of March which has met 
with such decided reprobation from our expeiicnced Michigan General. And it was in relation 
to the battle fought here in 1792 that General Wayne says, in a letter to the Secretary of War:_^ 

" My faithful and gallant Lieutenant Harrison rendered the most e.ssential service, by com- 
municating my orders in every direction, and by his conduct and bravery exciting the troops to 
press for victory." 

He had drank republicanism from his mother with the milk that nourished him. It had been 
instilled into him by his father among the earliest instructions of his youth. He had caught the 
military spirit from this distinguished commander, and his whole subsequent life has been but 
a development of the principles and feelings he then imbibed. Of that life it may be truly said 
that it has been spent throughout in the service of his country. His erect person, his stately 
carriage, his gentlemanly and finished manners, his amiable and sociable disposition, his conde- 
scension to inferiors, his warm heart, his open hand, together with his lofty character and his 
distinguished services, unite in designating him as eminently fitted to occupy the highest station 
in the Republic. 

True, indeed, it is that a party which arrogates to itself the exclusive title of the democracj' 
have ridiculed and sneered at this man on the avowed ground of his poverty. And why ia he a 
poor man 1 Has he had no opportunity of becoming otherwise 1 Has he never filled offices of 
high trust and emolument 1 Yes, sir, his life has been spent in the high and honorable service 



38 

of his country. But, sir, he despised to fill his collers and line his pockets with the public 
money, or to speculate by means of his oflices for his own benefit. If the gentleman can make 
any thing out of this, he is welcome to it all. This poor man has been nominated as a candi- 
date for the Presidential chair ; but whence did that nomination come 1 Not from his own State 
only. It is the voice of the peopJe of these United States — of the Union, which has called the 
unambitious farmer of the North Bend to leave his retirement, and climb once more the cold and 
dangerous crags of an eminent political station. They have called for him — the nation demands 
him — he is ttie people's candidate ; and if the gentleman from Michigan expects his pop-gun 
attack is to prostrate a man who has filled the measure of his country's glory, I would advise 
him, at least, not to try the. explosion among the people of the West. If they would learn the 
prospect of success from ribaldry like this, let them come into our Western villages — let them 
witness the spirit which has gone abroad in the land; they will find in the West one heart and 
soul; and however men may have difiered on all other matters of a public or a political nature, 
as to the character, the bravery, the integrity, and the merits of William Henry Harrison, there 
is but one opinion from the Allcghanies to the Rocky Mountains. 



The Richmond Enquirer and its allies, who advocated the abolition of slavery in Virgin-ia in 
the year 1832, traduce General Harrison and denounce him as an abolitionist ; affecting now 
as much horror for abolition, as they professed in 1832 for .slavery and a servile war. The an- 
nexed extracts from the leading abolition paper, will show that the abolitionists do not support 
General Harrison as an abolitionist, but admit that he is not one, and, therefore, recommends 
opposition to him. 

To which we will add, that Mr. Slade, of Vermont, the leading abolitionist in Congress, in 
a speech recently delivered in the House of Representatives, upon the subject of abolition, declar- 
ed that the abolitionists knew that General Harrison was no abolitionist, and they did not sup- 
port him as such ; but that, like all other citizens, they hnd to choose a President, and those of them 
who preferred General Harrison to Mr. Van Buren, did so because he was the best and most fit 
man of the two. 

"RITCHIE AND GARRISON UPON GENERAL HARRISON. 

"We copy the following article from a late number of the Emancipator, (the leading paper of 
the abolitionists, ) denouncing General Harrison for his Southern feelings and Southern VOTES ! 
Ought not the conjunction between Thomas Ritchie and Lloyd Garrison, in opposition to Gener- 
al Harrison, to open the eyes of the Southern people to the game that is playing? We ask at- 
tention to Garrison's article, both on account of the source and the substance :^'' 

[From the E i ancipator.] 

General Harrison. — Many have supposed that it might be expedient for the Executive 
Committee to interrogate General Harrison, now that he is the recognised candidal*: for the 
Presidency, with some propect of election, to learn his views with respect to the abolition of 
slavery. But where is the use 1 It is true, we rejoice in the rejection of Henry Clay, because 
he is a slaveholder, and a defender of slavery. General Harrison, we know is not a slave- 
holder. Neither is Mr. Van Buren. But no one thinks it necessary to interrogate Mr. Van 
Buren. Why ! Because his principles are known to be in favor of the ascendency of the slave 
power. But are those of General Harrison any less so 1 He is the man of his parly, and that 
party have shown the absoluteness of their subserviency, by nominating a slaveholder, a pecu- 
*iiarly bigoted iJevotee of slavery on the same ticket with General Harrison, and now by electing 
a nullifying slaveholder, from slave-breeding Virginia, for Speaker. 

But we submit, further, that General Harrison's principles are already well known by his 
deeds, of which wc lind the following summiry in the Rochester Freeman: 

In December, 1802, while Governor of Indiana Territory, he was president of a convention of 
the people of that Territory, held al Vincennes, and transmitted to Congress a memorial of the 
convention, praying that the Gth article of the -'Ordinance of '87," which prohibited slavery 
there, might he suspended. (See Am. State Papers, 180.3.) His efibrts to make Indiana a 
slave State, were prosecuted for years while he was Governor of that Territory. 

In 1819, February 16, General Harrison voted as a member of the House of Representatives, 
against a clause prohibiting the further introduction of slavery in Missouri; and against a clause 
for the further emancipation (at 2.5) of slaves born within that State. Two days afterwards he 
voted against a clause prohibiting the future introduction of slavery into Arkansas, and against 
the future emancipation of slaves born in Arkansas. 

So basely did he bow to slavery, that even Ohio was shocked. He was indignantly rejected 
at the next Congressional election in 1822. The National Intelligencer of October 20, 1822, 
.says: "It Is confirmed to us, that Mr. Gazely is elected in opposition to General Harrison. A 



39 

friend informs us, which we are sorry to learn, that he was opposed particularly on account of 
his adherence to that principle of the constitution which secures to the people of the South their 
pre-existing rights." It seems, then, that General Harrison claimed for the South the right 
to fasten slavery upon any soil which the nation might have or purchase. 

He has had but little opportunity to act in a public capacity upon the subject of slavery since 
that time; but an address from his political friends in Virginia, in 1836, says, "he is sound 
to the core on the subject of slavery." 

Under these circumstances, we submit that conscientious abolitionists are hound to regard the 
two parties and their candidates as standing precisely on the same ground — that of unlimited 
subserviency to the dominion of Slavocracy. It is true, General Harrison's personal demonstra- 
tions are less recent than Mr. Van Buren's ; but they are much stronger, for Mr. Van Buren 
helped to send Rufus King to the United States Senate to oppose slavery in Missouri, and he 
has never attempted to extend slavery to regions where it was already abolished. And further, 
the demonstrations of the Harrison party are more recent than those of the other. And if it is 
said that we shall give the old General a chance to repent of his pro-slaverv, we reply, that it 
belongs to the man who repents to exhibit his own repentance. Certainly, there are no circum- 
stances in the case whicii warrant the slightest presumptions in favor of his repentance. Let 
him or his friends, if they choose, show wherein his views now differ from his actions in 1802, 
and 1819, and 1836. And in default of this, let the friends of human rights come at once to 
the conviction, that the cause they have espoused, is by Divine Providence, entrusted to their 
own guardianship, and that for its success or failure their country and posterity will hold them 
responsible. 

The Richmond Enquirer, and its co-laborers in the work of defamation, have published and 
denounced General Harrison as a supporter of the alien and sedition laws, although they have 
the evidence before them that he was not in Congress when those laws passed, and could not, 
therefore, have voted for them ; and notwithstanding they have seen General Harrison's denial 
that he ever approved them. By such conduct, the defamers of General Harrison only prove that — 

'• He thai stands upon a slippery place 
IMakes nice of no vile hold to stay him up." 

But, even this "vile hold" shall not "stay them up." The subjoined extract, which we have 

reason to believe is from a distinguished citizen, must satisfy every fair man of the falsehood of 

the charge : » 

[From the Delaware State Journal.] 

GENERAL HARRISON AND JOHN RANDOLPH. 

A friend of ours, vvho has, for many years, been particular in recording passing events, has 
given us permission to copy from his diary the following passage, describing a scene which oc- 
curred in the Senate of the United States more than ten years ago. He happened to be in Wash- 
ington at the period when the late Mr. Randolph was in the full career of the virulent warfare 
which he waged against the administration of Mr. Adams, and made the Senate Chamber, day 
after day, the theatre of his denunciations against him and his prominent supporters. Mr. Ran- 
dolph lived long enough_ to acknowledge and lament the fatal mistake he had made in promoting 
the election of General Jackson ; and his sincere repentance should be remembered to his credit, 
while we condemn the means by which he advanced that object. The scene described in the 
subjoined^ extract from the diary, is the identical one so often referred to in the Richmond 
Enquirer and other administration papers, when Mr. Randolph is said to have convicted General 
Harrison of the high crime of being a federalist — a crime deemed sufficiently heinous in some parts 
of our country to annihilate the man who is suspected of it, even under the administration of the 
man who pledged himself to put down the "monsteh, party spikit." 

Extract. " 1826, March 20. — I visited the Senate Chamber to day, and was fortunate enough 
to find the celebrated John Randolph on his legs, and in the middle of a speech — on what partic- 
ular question, I could not learn from any thing he said ; for it is a characteristic of his eloquence, 
that he rambles wide of the mark and speaks of almost every thing but the question really under 
discussion. He was, at this time, running a tilt against General Harrison, the Senator of Ohio, 
and the style in which he assailed him was so personal and acrimonious, that I was surprised he 
was permitted to proceed. He raked up the reminiscences of nearly thirty years, adverted to the 
period when Congress was sitting in Philadelphia, to the then called the standing army, Macpher- 
son's blues, tfie alien and sedition laws, and all the by-gone political sins of that day, and, turning 
to General Harrison, with a most ferocious aspect, and pointing to him with his long linger, he 
charged him with being a black-cockade federalist of '98, a standing army man, one who had 
voted for the alien and sedition laws, and had been hand and glove with the leading party in 



40 

power. He designated him a ' military satrap,' who had been appointed a governor of jjrovinces 
by John Adams, &c. , &c. He pursued this strain of vituperation for some fifteen minutes, when 
some other idea seized his wayward fancy and led him upon another scent. 

"As soon as he sat down, General Harrison rose, and, as I thought, with remarkable coolness 
and temper, considering the virulent and unprovoked character of the attack, observed, that the 
extraordinary manner in which his name had been brought before the Senate, by the Senator 
from Virginia, probably required some notice from him, though he scarcely knew how to treat 
such a charge as had been advanced against him seriously. The gentleman had charged him 
with being a black-cockade federalist of '98, and with having voted for the standing army and 
the alien and sedition laws. He had not so fertile a memory as the gentleman frt)m Virginia, 
nor could he, at command, call up all the transactions of nearly thirty years ago. He could say, 
however, that, at the time alluded to, he was not a party man in the sense the Senator from Vir- 
ginia used. He was a delegate of a Territory which was just then rising into importance, and, 
having no vote on the general questions before Congress, it was neither his duty nor the interest 
of those whom he represented, to plunge into the turbulent sea of general politics which then 
agitated the nation. There were questions of great importance to the Northwestern Territory 
then before Congress — questions upon the proper settlement of which, the future prosperity of 
that now important portion of the Union greatly depended. Standing, as he did, the sole rep- 
resentative of that Territory, his greatest ambition was to prove himself faithful to his trust, by 
cherishing its interests, and nothing could have been more suicidal or pernicious to those he rep- 
resented, than for him to exasperate either party by becoming a violent j)artisan, without the 
power of aiding either party, because he had no vote on any political question. This was his 
position, and, although he had his political principles as firmly fixed as those of the gentleman 
from Virginia, it was no business of his to strike where he could not be felt, and where the blow 
must recoil upon himself and those whom he represented. He wore no cockade, black or tri-col- 
ored, at that day, and never wore one but when he was in the military service of his country. 
But he was seriously charged with the heinous ofifence of associating with federal gentlemen. 
He plead guilty ; he respected the rev^rilutionary services of President Adams, and had paid him 
that courtesy which was due to him as a man and as Chief Magistrate. He also associated 
with such men as John Marehall and James A. Bayard. Was the acknowledgment of such 
guilt to throw him out of the pnle of political salvation 1 

" On the other hand, he was on intimate terms with Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gallatin, and with the 
whole Virginia delegation, among whom he had many kinsmen and dear friends. They were 
his principal associates in Philadelphia, in whose mess he had often met the gentleman who was 
now his accuser, and with whom he had spent some of the happiest hours of his life. It was 
true, as the Senator alleged, he had been appointed Governor of the Northwestern Territory by 
John Adams; so had he been by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He was not in Con- 
gress when the standing army was created, and the alien and sedition laws were passed ; and, if 
he had been, he could not not have voted for them, and would not if he could. It was not in 
his nature to be a violent or proscriptivc partisan, but he liad given a firm support to the repub- 
lican administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. He hoped the Senator from Virginia was 
answered. He was sure the Senate must be wearied with this frivolous and unprofitable squabble." 

" I have gone somewhat into detail in recording General Harrison's remarks, for I was very 
favorably impressed with the promptitude, self possession, and propriety of his reply to the rude 
attack made upon him. He carried away all the laurels. Mr. Randolph, however, returned to 
the attack, in a long stream of vituperation, interrupted only by an eloquent tribute to Chief 
Justice Marshall. Being the first time I had heard him, I listened to him attentively. It is im- 
possible not to be deeply interested by the originality of thought and expression, the play of 
genius and talent, and the various information which are mingled in the harangues of this eccen- 
tric man, with an utter disregard for the feelings of others, and of the common decencies of life. 
At the same lime, it is impossible not to feel that he is entirely out of place in tlie Senate of the 
United States. Several Senators with whom I have conversed speak of him as one who is alike 
injurious to the character and efficiency of the Senate ; his frequent desultory and irrelevant 
harangues retard its business, while the acrimony and virulence of his tone must lower its Sig- 
nity in the; public estimation. Mr. Calhoun is censured for not exercising his authority as prcr 
siding officer in regard to Mr. Randolph. He seem?:, indeed, to have gained that kind of ascend- 
ency in the Senate, that while no one approves his conduct, every one is afraid of him. He 
says what he pleases, and does as he pleases, and there are none to say to him nay. Some 
excuse him on the score of insanity, and there is certainly a good deal in his conduct and ap- 
pearance to favor the idea; but, if this be the case, why is he where he is] A Senator of one 
of the first St.ites of the confederacy ! Mr. Randolph's person is like his manner and his history — 
peculiar. A tall thin figure, a small head, piercing eyes, cadaverous complexion, short waist 
and long legs, with a peculiarly efteminato and clear voice. He dresses more like a gentleman 
this session, it is said, tiian lie has been known to do for many years. A blue ccs.t and waist- 
coat, drab breeches, white topped boots, jocky cap, and his hair tied by a single string, consti- 
tute the costume of this Virginia Senator : 

«^ — ^ M /\ M '^ ' -l^ wan so various that he seems to bo 
;U 1 1 1 II ^ Not one. but all mankind's epitome.' " 






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